A Shinobi's Resolve
by Markus-Antonius
Summary: Over a century ago, humanity found itself against a new predator. Titans. Giant beings of slaughter, bent on devouring the human race. Three and a half years after Wall Maria falls, a human no Titan has faced before comes into play. It's time for a Shinobi's Attack on the Titans.
1. A New World

**Hey everyone Markus-Antonius here!**

**I got a new story for you all! I mentioned that I would possibly do a story of this crossover in my other story ****_Fate Stay Shinobi Dreams_**** and here it is! A crossover of Naruto and Attack on Titan or its official title Shingeki no Kyojin/進撃の巨人****. There are apparently two selections for this crossover like Star Wars or Batman, but I chose this one since you can actually choose characters from the Attack on Titan series unlike the other one. If I would have done the other one, yes it would say Attack on Titan in English, but since I can't choose the characters in that one, this must be the first and official one. That and its official title is in Japanese not English. **

**So yeah, I hope you don't have trouble finding this, but then again Attack on Titan is just starting to get popular and consequently there are like three stories not including this one available for this crossover, so I am honestly not expecting a lot of people to see this story, but hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.**

**Though if you are expecting immediate romance and lemons, sorry, but if you follow Attack on Titan, you will know that there is no time for anything but fighting. Not that I'm not gonna attempt it, just don't expect immediate romance. Also this will probably be a single pairing and not a harem. **

**Anyway let's get to it!**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own these franchises, if I did, Naruto would be a manly man's man like Jiraiya. Say what you want about Jiraiya, but he was a man! A bad ass! And he fought and went out like a boss! Maybe Jiraiya should have been resurrected through edo-tensei so Naruto can remember how he should fight.

A Shinobi's Resolve

Prologue: A New World

Naruto was exhausted.

He had just finished talking to the real Pain, or Nagato.

Nagato, Konan, and his six puppet corpses he uses as mediums for his power had attacked Konoha, his home village while he was training to become a Toad Sage and utilize the sage mode and jutsu. After Nagato turned Konoha into a massive crater by pushing all his power into one massive **Shinra Tensei** - a repelling gravity attack - Naruto arrived and fought him. Naruto fought well, having mastered natural energy and becoming a sage, defeating all but the strongest path: Deva Path. He was exhausted though causing him to be defeated and restrained. After Pain revealed his plans for peace, Hinata came to try and rescue him. She confessed that she loved him, though Pain had enough of her interruption and struck her down. This triggered Naruto to lose himself to his rage and consequently his tenant, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

His rage pushed him to take on more and more of Kyuubi's power, reaching the six-tailed state. In his berserker-like state he charged at Pain hoping to kill him. He fought like an animal and Pain constantly repulsed him, hoping to tire him out. He began to charge an **Imari (Menacing Ball)** but Pain interrupted him causing a misfire and blow up outside the village. Pain retreated and Naruto chased him down. Pain though had one last move to use, **Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation)**. Sending a ball of condensed gravity to the sky, he created a mini moon capturing Kyuubified-Naruto in the center.

Naruto though continued to rage, causing him to draw more power and reach the eight tailed state. Just when it seemed hopeless and that Naruto would become the Kyuubi releasing it from its seal, his father, the Yondaime Hokage came and stopped him. He talked with Naruto and told him of how he sealed some of his chakra within the seal as a fail-safe in case the Kyuubi threatened to break free. He also mentioned the masked man and how he is responsible for the kyuubi attack and the true leader of Akatsuki. He then fixed the seal and as he began to fade away gave Naruto encouraging words, saying that he believed in him.

With the seal fixed, Naruto returned to his normal state and faced off against the Deva Path once more. After he defeated him, he tracked down the real Pain's position meeting the man behind the destruction of his home. It was not what he expected. Konan was next to the extremely pale and emaciated red haired cripple, who was in some kind of walker with numerous rods stabbed into his back. After arguing back and forth in a heated discussion about peace, Naruto convinced Nagato to believe in him, saying the same words he told Jiraiya regarding finding peace. Nagato used the last of his chakra to use the seventh path: **Gedo Path: Rinne Tensei** to revive all of those who died in his attack, causing his death.

Naruto let Konan leave back to Amegakure to rebuild it and aid Naruto in his quest for peace. After he made a makeshift grave for Jiraiya and with his fight for the village finished we return to where we find him now.

Naruto is trudging through the forest surrounding Konoha trying to come back to his home to see if everyone really is alive. His black and orange tracksuit is heavily damaged, his right sleeve is torn off, revealing the short sleeve of the metal mesh shirt he wears underneath his black t-shirt, he currently has the tracksuit unzipped, revealing the black t-shirt with an orange Konoha flame symbol. He expects to have a couple holes in his jacket, shirt, and metal mesh shirt from when Nagato stabbed him with his rods; he also has some tears in his orange pants.. He can't wait to go home, change his clothes and take a bath in the hot springs. But, he used so much chakra in his fight, and he is exhausted. Walking is a struggle, his eyelids are heavy, he is probably going to pass out. Just as he felt like he was gonna collapse, he was caught by someone. He looked to face the person, and what he saw was not what he was expecting. There, holding him by his collar, was the masked man he ran into when he was trying to find Sasuke not too long ago in Akatsuki robes. What was his name again? Tobi?

"Found you!" he said way too cheerfully.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, he barely had anything left in him to fight. He grimaced at his bad luck. He just finishes the fight of his life and saves the village, only to get captured by this guy? What has he done to deserve this?

"Bastard..."

The masked man leaned forward and cupped his hand around his ear as if to hear him better, "Hmm... I didn't really hear you, what was that kyuubi?" he asked in a childish voice.

"You bastard! Just what are you people! Are people's lives just toys to you! We are people too! We aren't bijuu or sacrifices for your own goals! We have our own thoughts and dreams! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TAKE THAT FROM US!" Naruto roared in rage.

He panted, trying to level his breathing, before he began to tremble in rage as he remembered what his father mentioned, how he was responsible for the kyuubi attack. He opened his eyes in shock as he realized what that meant. If he was responsible for the attack, he is also responsible for his father's death and possibly his mothers!

He bit his lip to try and quell his feelings, and control his rage, but this was just too much. He shivered in rage as his body was desperately trying to tell him to attack this man. He gritted his teeth as he grounded out, "Why... Why?!"

Suddenly he heard a dark chuckle immensely different from the previous childish one. The masked man then said in a darkly amused voice, "Why? Why not?" at seeing Naruto's look of anger and disbelief he continued after another chuckle and said while wagging his finger in front of his face, "For peace of course, the Moon's Eye Plan!"

"...What?" Naruto could only stare in disbelief.

"Yes, I'll capture all the bijuu and recombine them to what they once were: The Juubi." taking Naruto's shocked silence as a cue to continue, "Then I will become its Jinchuuriki and then reflect a Juubi powered Tsukiyomi off the moon, to trap the world in an eternal Tsukiyomi genjutsu." He then gleefully dropped Naruto and raised his hands and finished, "It will be a world with no more wars, no more conflict, no more tears, no winners, and no losers. A world of truth and no lies! That is the Moon's Eye plan."

"You... are insane... That isn't peace! It's all fake! No one would be really living if its all an illusion! There is no meaning in that! It's a coward's way out!" Naruto yelled at him. He just finished with a delusional madman, and he just barely managed to defeat him and show him the error of his ways; now he has to deal with another one right off the bat? 'Goddammit, I am gonna find Murphy and fucking kill him for that shitty ass law of his and why it keeps effecting me!' he raged in his mind.

The man seemed to glare down at Naruto, before he shrugged and bent down to pick him up by his collar and said, "I didn't ask for your opinion, I am simply letting you know what you will bring about. Now then, I believe its time I take the kyuubi."

He was interrupted however by a cry, "Raikiri!" he jumped back not out of necessity, but to simply reevaluate the situation.

Kakashi quickly grabbed Naruto and gave him to a hastily made shadow clone. As the clone ran off, Kakashi faced off against the masked man, raising his headband to reveal his Sharingan and glared hard.

"Are you sure that was a good idea? You don't have his reserves to make shadow clones as efficiently. Let alone using that eye."

"I'm not letting you take Naruto!"

"As if you have a say in the matter." The masked man retorted before he swirled away from his sight.

Kakashi cursed and ran back to his clone in hopes of saving his student.

The Kakashi clone was currently sprinting as fast as he could with Naruto on his back to get to the village with reinforcements. Though he had to stop and pivot to avoid a downward slash from the masked man. He kept sprinting to the village, knowing he couldn't fight with Naruto on him. He dodged another slash, but noticed a chain in front of him that threatened to wrap around him and tried to escape it. But it was too late, he was wrapped around and squeezed until he poofed away with a curse. Naruto fell to the ground cursing his inability to move the way he wanted, as the man walked up to him.

With a false cheerful tone, the man said, "Now that he is out of the way, let's go!" he moved to grab Naruto again but stopped and put his hand to his chin in an exaggerated thoughtful pose and said, "But just to be safe from any interruptions, I think I will hide you away for now."

He bent down to Naruto and focused his eye on him. Naruto could see the Sharingan in the sole eye hole of his mask change its shape from the normal three tomoes to a three-bladed shuriken looking shape that resembled a pinwheel as well.

Suddenly things began to swirl all around him. Naruto then remembered that this is what this guy would do when he would teleport away from them back when he was trying to find Sasuke not to long ago. 'He must be trying to teleport me somewhere! Not if I can help it!' Naruto thought. He began trying to summon any chakra he could find within him, to try and move his body, hell he even tried to take a little of the kyuubi's power as well.

The masked man known as Tobi, but really Uchiha Obito, felt the chakra forming around Naruto and he at first scoffed at the boy for trying to escape. But then he felt something off about his Kamui. It was unstable, really unstable. He couldn't stop the technique lest he kill the jinchuuriki so he tried to stabilize and continue it. But it was too much. The stubborn blonde was screwing it up!

Suddenly he saw Naruto swirl away into his dimension... hopefully. The swirl being tinted red by that fox's chakra was way too ominous for his liking. Though he straightened up when he saw Kakashi coming. So he gave a playful salute masking his true feelings toward him, and swirled away in his version of a teleport.

Kakashi simply fell to his knees, his eyes wide in shock, as he tried to comprehend the situation. That man must have taken Naruto. And it was his fault! He lost another comrade, another name would be added to the memorial stone because of him. No, he can't give up. He has to find Naruto before its too late. But first he has to break the news... Oh, and they were all organized at the entrance to greet and cheer for Naruto too... He trudged forward, his head low, not looking forward to the rest of the day.

**XXX**

Tobi reappeared in one of his many hideouts in front of Zetsu. Zetsu could feel the anticipation and dare he say excitement from his comrade? 'I guess that means he was successful' he thought with a grin.

"So were you able to get him after the fight?"

"Yes, I was about to check on him within my dimension. I also want to ask him how he was able to convince Nagato to betray me." he finished with a dark look in his only visible eye.

Zetsu just nodded and said, "Yeah, go ahead, nothing is going on right now that I know of."

Obito nodded his head and swirled to his dimension.

When he entered his dimension of numerous rectangular prisms within the black void, he looked around for his "guest". However he couldn't immediately see him. He felt a nervous flip of his stomach as his mind began to wander around the idea of the Kamui going wrong. He tried to expand his senses, but he couldn't sense him. His eyes widened in rage as he realized he lost the kyuubi. He yelled in frustration and anger as an explosion took place where he stood as he released his chakra in a single burst.

He threw off his mask revealing his half-scarred face and Sharingan eyes - though one was implanted.

"Damn it. Damn it! DAMN IT!" he yelled once more. All his plans, all his sacrifices, and all his effort, and now one mistake has possibly screwed everything up! The world Madara promised him, the world where Rin exists, where Team Minato still exists, where there is peace and where war never happens will never happen now!

"... Rin..." he mumbled out as tears began to form in the corner of his eyes.

**XXX**

Naruto opened his eyes and immediately closed them. He didn't know where he was, but he did know that stupid ass sun was annoying the hell out of him. It was shining down on him through those big ass trees... He paused in thought to open his eyes slowly to look around, and as he thought these trees didn't look familiar to him at all. They were bigger than any trees he has seen in the Elemental Nations, though Kakashi-sensei did tell him about the Land of Grass and how big and weird the plants and trees were there. Is he in Kusa then? Is he near Kusagakure? Where did that masked nutcase send him? He didn't see anything that resembled an evil villain hideout. It was too bright and filled with nature. There needed to be more darkness and dreary looking caves. Like the one where they took the Ichibi out of Gaara. Plus, he hasn't heard any evil chuckles. Every bad guy he has fought seems to chuckle in front of him when they think they are winning, or in control of the situation.

Naruto got up from his spot on the ground and looked around. As he stretched, he felt that half of his chakra was replenished - or to normal jonins, full capacity - so he looked around and ran up the nearest tree. When he got to the top and looked around, he noticed there was no signs of life in his direct vision. So he decided to jump back down to the widest and sturdiest branch on the tree, and sat down into a lotus position. He called on the Natural Energy of his surroundings and entered Sage mode to scan for life.

When he began to search for chakra signatures, at first all he could feel nearby were a few low signatures, which probably meant they were wildlife, but then he felt a couple signatures that were about high genin level, a couple miles from him. He sighed to himself in resignation as he stood up to go and see these signatures and possibly ask for information. So he hopped from branch to branch getting ever closer to the signatures.

Now Naruto has seen some strange things in his time. Talking giant animals, a snake man, said snake man shedding his skin to vomit up a new body, and even talked to a giant fox in his mind. The only reason he knows he is not insane, is the simple fact that normal and impossible is not in a shinobi's dictionary. So when he came across the location of the signatures and looked down from his branch and saw three strangely proportioned, sexless, human like giants ranging from twenty to forty feet in height, he wasn't as freaked out and confused as most would be. He simply sweated in a combination of nervousness and confusion.

You can't really blame him for being nervous or even slightly scared at first sight, they usually have creepy grins on their large faces showing off their sharper than normal teeth. One even had what looked to be dried blood around its mouth and hands. He shook himself out of his stupor and jumped away from those giant things. They obviously wouldn't be much help in giving info if all those incoherent groans were any indication, let alone the stupid expressions on their creepy blood-stained faces.

After a few minutes of tree-hopping, he sat himself on another branch and concentrated once more. He dove deeper into his senses to reach out further for signs of life. After ten minutes of only feeling the occasional small group of high genin level signatures he wrote off as possible giants, he finally felt something. It was a rather large group of fast moving signatures ranging from civilian to chunin level signatures. From his guess, they were about 15 to 20 miles away, and moving on smaller animal level signatures. So they were riding an animal and moving close to twenty miles per hour. He nodded to himself and began to move toward them and hopefully figure out where the hell he was.

**XXX**

The Scouting Legion - a division of the military - is in charge of the exploration and the eventual reclamation of human territory from Titan-infested land. Prior to the breach of Wall Maria, they explored the land outside of the Wall, though never getting far due to the heavy casualties suffered by Titans.

Presently, they have been laying down supplies from the Wall Rose Trost District to Wall Maria Zhiganshina District in preparation to seal the breach and reclaim Wall Maria. They are led by the Commander, Erwin Smith. He is around 6' 1", has blond hair combed to the side, and blue almost grey eyes. He is very stoic, serious and usually grim. He does care about his men, but he is willing to sacrifice them for the future of mankind.

Erwin leads the formation back to Wall Rose at Trost. They are almost out of supplies for this expedition, so they need to go back. It has been three and a half years since Wall Maria was breached, consequently losing all of the progress they had made outside of it. Now they have to retake the whole area between the two walls is they ever want to scout out there again. Though that will probably take a couple decades.

Erwin has seen more of the world than anyone inside the military, and yet from the legends he has heard, that isn't much at all. Flaming water? Saltwater? Frozen Earth? Lakes that cover most of the world? All he has seen are forests and the occasional lake. However little he has seen, he still wants to share it with the rest of humanity. He wants to save it from despair, from annihilation, from the Titans. He will do whatever it takes to make sure humanity will be safe outside the walls.

He is broken from his train of thought when Mike Zakarius rides up closer to him and says, "There is someone coming fast from the East."

"Someone?" Erwin questions with a raised brow. No one should be left in between Wall Maria and Rose except for the Titans and the occasional Scouting Legion expedition.

"Yes, it doesn't smell like a Titan, or anyone from our expedition." he says with a grim face.

Mike Zakarius is a strange man. He has a habit of sniffing anyone he meets for the first time. Then... smirking for some reason. He does have a really acute sense of smell, able to smell Titans and other things from miles away. He has an apathetic look on his face and has usually half-lidded eyes. He has dirty blonde hair, and a light mustache and goatee. He is considered to be the second strongest man in the Legion.

After thinking for a few seconds, he asks, "Are there any Titans in the immediate area?"

Mike closes his eyes and takes a big sniff and a few smaller ones. He then opens his eyes and says, "No, we should be fine and there haven't been any signals from our flanks."

Erwin nods in understanding before he pulls out his smoke flare gun and aims it to the right and fires. A green smoke flare is expelled alerting the formation to follow him and move to the right. Follow up flares from the rest of the formation show their understanding as he heads to the mysterious person in between the walls.

"Let's go Mike, lead the way to the anomaly." he orders.

"Yes, Commander!"

**XXX**

Naruto is currently sprinting across a plain with his arms flowing behind him and sage mode still activated. He could feel the group heading toward him now. Maybe they have a sensor? Though that doesn't explain why they would leave whatever they were doing to come and find him.

After a few minutes of grumbling to himself trying to figure his situation out, he starts to see a cloud of dust ahead of him. The signatures were coming from that direction, so maybe that was them and they were kicking up dust on the animals they were riding? Maybe horses?

He decided to slow down and stop. He didn't want to come off as a threat by sprinting at them.

So after a few minutes of waiting for the group, he could finally make out a few details before they all pulled up to stop near him, but not close enough to be in range apparently. They were all wearing green cloaks. The cloaks themselves had a symbol on the back and a smaller patch on the shoulders that looked like two wings: one blue the other white, with the white overlapping the blue slightly. There also seemed to be a shield in the background. Those that weren't wearing a cloak had a brown-khaki colored long-sleeved jacket that was open and stopped at the midriff. Good thing they had shirts under them unlike Sai, Naruto shivered in disgust. Unless they were women. In that case its cool with him. From what he could see, they all also had harnesses strapped all along their bodies from their boots to their shoulders with a strange looking device around their hips and lower back. Naruto couldn't even begin to describe what they were.

They did all look tense, and they had their hands near the device. One even had some grip attached to the long metal box on his hip as if he was about to pull a sword out or something... Oh... They must be some sort of weapons huh.

'What do you know I stumbled upon some soldiers.' thought Naruto.

A rather short soldier, a little over 5 feet, rode over on his horse closer to Naruto with a bored look and said in a rather annoyed tone, "Oi, brat. Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

The guy with the bad attitude is Corporal Levi. He has black hair in a bowl cut parted down the middle. He also has sharp black eyes hidden behind his bored looking face. He usually speaks as if he is annoyed with something, sometimes even blunt and unapproachable. Though it may be because he is a known "clean freak"and his past in the underworld of the big cities. Despite all of this, he does value his comrades lives. He is also considered to be the strongest soldier in the Scouting Legion and considered to be worth 100 soldiers, despite his short stature. Then again you don't need to be tall to kill Titans when you can swing and grapple around them ironically.

Naruto gained a tick mark over his eye at the brat comment and replied through a strained smile, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. And well that is what I was gonna ask you." He took a deep breath to calm himself and continued, "Where am I? What land is this and do you know how I can get back to Konoha?"

Levi simply raised an eyebrow and looked to his commander who gave him a slight nod and turned back to him saying, "Well I have never heard of Konoha. None of us have. As for what land you are in, You are south of Trost and North of Zhiganshina not to far from the forest of giant trees. Basically you are in between Wall Maria and Wall Rose."

As the irritable man before him went on in his explanation, Naruto grew more and more nervous. How far was he from home that no one knew what Konoha was? Everyone knows what that is!

"Are you saying you have never heard of the Land of Fire, or the Elemental Nations?" he demanded in a desperate tone.

"No. I haven't." Levi replied with furrowed brows.

'No, no, no, no. This can't be happening.' Naruto was panicking in his head, his face was showing it too. This had some of the members worried, confused, curious, weary, and some just felt that he was crazy. Then again, they have plenty of... eccentric... members. So maybe they shouldn't be calling him crazy.

**'Hey, brat!'** boomed a deep voice in his head, one he knew very well.

'What do you want? To rub it in? That I'm so far from home that no one knows what it is?' Naruto growled back

**'Watch your mouth you whiny brat. I'm trying to let you know that I think we are in another dimension.' **Kyuubi barked back.

'What do you mean?' Naruto asked

Kyuubi quietly sighed and grumbled about idiotic containers and said **'I mean, that when you tried to escape that Uchiha's space-time jutsu, I think you disrupted it to the point that we were either sent through time, or we were flung into another dimension. I honestly don't know what to do with you. Should I eat you for getting us in this mess by flaring my chakra, or should I thank you for not getting caught.'**

'So I was either sent to the future or past, or I was sent to another dimension? Fuck...' Naruto said in a depressed tone.

"Hey, brat! Don't space out on me." Levi said annoyed at being ignored by the seemingly spaced out kid in front of him.

Naruto quickly shook his head and put up a fake smile, "S-sorry, I think I hit my head a little too hard."

Levi and a couple others could tell he was lying, but they decided not to call him on it. They would question him later, privately. And with more security. Just in case.

After seeing a subtle glance and nod from his Commander, Levi turned to the blond teen before him and said, "Well come with us if you want to make it to the closest city, There isn't anything out here but us, and Titans. So get on one of our extra horses and follow us."

Naruto nodded gratefully and awkwardly got on the horse offered, but then asked as they began to move, "Those giant, stupid human looking things are Titans right?"

Levi raised a subtle eyebrow in confusion as did those in earshot, "Yeah, they always seem to have the stupidest expressions on their faces" he grumbled in his usual annoyed fashion, causing some nearby to crack a smirk.

"You saw some out here?" he asked casually, but you could see in his eyes he was scanning both his surroundings and the teen before him for a threat.

Naruto nodded absently as he grimaced, trying to get comfortable on his horse; slowly bringing up his speed to keep pace with the others.

"Y-yeah," he stammered as he bounced on his horse, that was beginning to gallop with the others. "T-there were three of them, a-about 20 to 40 feet tall. I managed to sneak by them though, they never knew I was there."

Levi appraised the teen silently as he glanced at him out the corner of his eye. Even if Titans are not really sentient, not attracting their attention is pretty impressive. They do have pretty good instincts. And he snuck by three of them, a 12 meter class among them from the sound of things. And who knows how many others he has avoided out here on his own.

A member of his squad, Petra Ral, a petite woman with shoulder length honey colored hair and hazel eyes, heard the conversation nearby her and said, "You managed to sneak by a group of Titans without using a 3D Maneuver Gear or even a horse? That's pretty impressive."

A nearby soldier in the same squad named Auruo Bossard, a man around 5'6" with brown hair in a messy style similar to Levi's, scoffs and says in an arrogant and annoyed tone that sounds a little like Levi's tone, "What is so impressive about that? I have 27 solo kills, so the brat snuck by some Titans, that's not a big accomplishment Petra."

"Auruo, stop trying to imitate Corporal Levi." Petra admonished him tiredly.

He ignores her and keeps trying to talk down to Naruto, "Just remember brat, compared to me-" only to be interrupted by accidentally biting his tongue and causing him to bleed. A lot actually.

Naruto sweat drops as everyone around him didn't even seem to care that this cocky guy just bit his tongue and is bleeding. 'This must happen a lot...'

"Auruo~, we keep telling you, don't talk so much when we are riding." Petra says exasperated at another eccentric member of the Scouting Legion.

Of course he just moaned in discomfort and pain, so anything he said came out in mumbles. Naruto though wasn't really put off with his behavior though, when you meet someone like Rock Lee and his sensei Maito Gai... anyone else's eccentricities pale in comparison to the flames of youth.

**XXX**

It wasn't long until they finally made it to one of the bases they had. Naruto was confused and interested at the way they moved though. They would occasionally move in a different direction whenever a red smoke signal was shot in the air and move away from it. There must be a reason behind it, though he will probably find out later.

As everyone began to do their own normal routine when they return to a base, Naruto followed Levi and the Commander of the Scouting Legion, who he learned was named Erwin Smith. They had motioned him to follow them once he dismounted from his horse like everyone else. He found no reason not to. He didn't blame them really, he was a suspicious guy that probably sounded crazy to them, they were probably looking for the truth from him. He would tell them honestly, mostly. Information about the Kyuubi was a no-no.

As they entered what Naruto thought to be the Commander's Office, Erwin sat in the chair behind the desk and Levi dropped on the couch against the wall, crossing his legs and relaxing himself. Erwin motioned for Naruto to take the chair in front of his desk however.

When Naruto sat down, Erwin folded his hands that reminded Naruto of Tsunade and said, "Now that we are alone, why don't you explain yourself Naruto."

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. He had to think this through. He wasn't in the same dimension, so he might have to explain a lot of things.

He opened his eyes and said, "You obviously know I am not from here." at a nod from Erwin and a scoff to his right he continued, "You see, I just figured it out recently and it was a shock to myself, which was why I looked panicked and I wasn't sure how to deal with it; I still don't. I think I came from another dimension."

Silence and raised eyebrows was his answer.

"Another what?" came from Levi.

"Another world, I guess. I know this isn't mine. I came from the Elemental Nations and Konoha. And everyone knows what and where Konoha is. When you guys said you didn't know it, I knew something was wrong."

"And how did you come to our world." asked a skeptical Erwin. He wasn't ready to believe him yet, but he could tell that the kid before him truly believed everything he is saying, and so far he could tell that he isn't insane or in bad mental health.

"My home village was attacked and nearly destroyed. I was fighting the man responsible. I won and I was on my way home when I was captured by an enemy who took advantage of my exhaustion from the tough battle. He had this weird ability to teleport things and himself. He was using it on me, but I tried fighting the jutsu and after I did, things went black. I guess I got knocked out, but when I woke up I was in this forest I had never seen in the Elemental Nations, along with those weird Titan things, and then I met you guys." Naruto said trying to give a short version.

"So you don't know how you got here." asked a very skeptical Levi. He honestly thought this whole thing was insane. Teleporting? Really?

"Yeah, I'm just as confused as you guys."

"And what is a jutsu?" asked a curious Erwin.

"Oh, well I wasn't really the best in the academy, but I'll try to explain it the best I can. A jutsu is what we shinobi," at the blank looks he was getting, Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head and said with an equally sheepish smile, "Ah, shinobi are the soldiers of my world. We specialize in espionage and assault warfare. Though we do get hired to do a bunch of other stuff like escort and delivery missions."

'So a soldier. I thought so.' thought the acute military mind of Erwin Smith.

"And the jutsus?" asked an impatient Levi.

"Oh they are shinobi techniques." Naruto said with an excited smile thinking of all his badass jutsus.

"Why don't you show us one. If anything so we can believe you." asked Erwin politely.

"Yeah alright!" He brought his hands into a familiar cross-shaped seal, "This is one of my favorites! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Two puffs of smoke appeared on either side of Naruto startling the other occupants off the room. When the smoke cleared, the two veterans couldn't hide their surprise as they witnessed two clones of the blond before them appear out of nowhere.

Naruto grinned and said, "This is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, by using Chakra - the combination of spiritual and physical energy produced within the body and the 'fuel' of jutsus - I can create a solid clone that is the same as me in right down to my personality. The only difference," Naruto paused to elbow the clones in the gut causing them to dispel the same way they were created, in a puff of smoke. "They aren't as sturdy. They dispel with a single good hit. Though they are useful to overwhelm enemies since I can create thousands. But the original purpose was to gather information and spying purposes. Whatever the clone learns or sees, I learn. I can have a clone read a book, and once it dispels, I'll know all about it. The only consequence is the memory backlash causing a massive migraine if I dispel too many at once. It also uses a huge amount of chakra, most can only make one or two, I'm just way too awesome with my huge chakra reserves!" Naruto finished with a closed-eyed grin.

Erwin didn't hide his awe, continuing to see the possibilities of such a technique... Humanity could definitely benefit from this... and whatever other powers he has. And so he was determined to find out what else he had to offer.

"What else can you do with... Chakra?" he asked barely hiding his eagerness.

"Well, a whole lot of cool things! I mean the possibilities are endless! You can manipulate the elements like water, fire, earth, lightning, or wind; walk on walls and water; enhance your speed and strength tenfold; and some people can combine some elements to make a new one like ice or lava! I find out about new jutsus all the time! I am a wind user though, its supposed to be the best for close to mid range fighters like myself." As he was explaining all this excitedly, he got up and walked up the nearby wall and stood casually upside down on the ceiling with a big grin on his face.

"Amazing..."

He flipped down to the floor and said with his childish enthusiasm, "I know, aren't jutsus awesome?! And check this one out, its one of my main attack jutsus."

Naruto held out his hand with his palm facing up, while another clone appeared next to him. Levi raised an eyebrow, they already saw the clone technique, what was this supposed to be. Just as he thought that, the clone started to wave his hands around the open palm, as a blue sphere of energy formed in his hand. The clone dismissed itself as Naruto held it out proudly.

"The Rasengan, don't let its swirling sphere of pure chakra beauty fool you, it really packs a punch. I could destroy this room with it!" he joked as he let it dissipate. He of course didn't see the men tense at that joke.

"You have some formidable abilities Naruto." Erwin started.

"Thanks, I really trained hard to get where I am." he said with a fond smile remembering his training with Jiraiya.

"Naruto I am not gonna beat around the bush, so I will get to the point. Do you know if you can get home to your world?" Erwin said seriously.

Naruto looked down, his good mood soured. "I don't know. I don't know any dimensional or space-time jutsu. I... I don't think I will be able to go home..."

After a few seconds Erwin finally said, "Naruto let me tell you what is going on in our world. Long ago, Humanity prospered in this world, however that changed over a century ago when we found ourselves with a new predator, we were no longer the top of the food chain. Those giants you saw, they are what we call Titans. They are terrifyingly powerful creatures. They may seem stupid and blundering with not much intelligence, but they more than make up for that in strength. They range from 3 to sometimes over 15 meters. They can regenerate even decapitation in under two minutes. And with hordes upon hordes of these Titans, humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction." Erwin stood up and motioned for Naruto to follow him, Levi walked behind Naruto.

"The last remnants of humanity built three walls, The outer wall is named Maria, the middle, Rose, the innermost is named Sina. We endured a century of peace. But three and half years ago, a colossal Titan 60 meters tall able to look over the 50 meter walls breached Wall Maria. The Titans hunted humanity once more. Another abnormal titan, the armored titan, which had armor like plates on its body, destroyed the inner gate, thus opening a path to a third of humanity's last territory. We lost that third of territory along with 20 percent of our population after a failed attempt to retake it." They were walking through the building until they stood outside nearby some trees. Erwin turned around and nodded to Levi, who was wearing the 3D Maneuver Gear.

"We don't have your jutsus, we are nearly powerless before their strength and brute force. However we do have our ingenuity and intelligence beyond basic instinct. We developed devices called 3D Maneuver Gear to use our smaller size to our advantage so we can better attack the one vital spot on a Titan. The nape of their necks. We use swords to cut into them, ending their existence." Levi demonstrated the device's capabilities swinging and grappling gracefully through the trees, as well as slicing off some branches.

"I would like your help Naruto." Naruto turned to Erwin shocked.

"Humanity has been wallowing in despair, powerless to its tormentors for too long. I want to give them hope, I want to defeat the Titans and show humanity the outside world. My job as the commander of the Scouting Legion, is to pave the way for Humanity's expansion, life outside the walls. Now my job is to simply retake our territory and Wall Maria. Humanity has been losing longer than I have been alive. Every step a Titan takes is a step we as humans lose. I am tired of losing, I want to win. So I ask of you, can you help all of us win? Can you help humanity advance?"

Naruto was speechless. This world, was in a bad place. Near-extinction, giant man-eating monsters, giant walls, breached walls, and chaos in general. What should he do? He doesn't know how to get home. He wants to go home and see if everyone really did get revived, but how can he? He was never that smart. He always charged straight ahead and worried about the consequences later, he never hesitated. Why was he now? Especially when someone, no the world needs his help. He never turned down a request for help before. These people need his help, and he knows he can give it to them. These Titans killed off most of Humanity because they were defenseless, nothing could stand up to their raw power, maybe its long overdue for them to be introduced to someone who can match it?

Naruto looked down, Erwin was still waiting on an answer, still staring directly at him with his hands behind his back. Levi was on a branch leaning against the trunk interested in his answer.

Naruto looked up with his classic cocky grin and determination and said,

"Where do I start Commander?"

* * *

**Prologue End**

**Boom! Its done! The first entry into this story. The pairing, Its gonna be tough to do since Attack on Titan doesn't really focus on Romance, its one action packed battle/event after another.**

**Anyway, follow, favorite, and review! **

**And sorry for those who are waiting on the next chapter of Fate Stay Shinobi Dreams, I have been busy this month. BUT, I am working on it. Look out for it soon! **

**So see you all soon! **

**Peace,**

**Markus-Antonius**


	2. Just Getting Started

**Hey everyone I'm back! **

**What a response I got for the first installment, 74 favorites, 82 follows, 27 reviews for the first chapter. I am so damn happy! Which is why I am typing out this chapter instead of Fate Stay Shinobi Dreams... Sorry if some of you are waiting on that.**

**There was a lot of positive feedback, though there were concerns. The biggest one and the most obvious, was Naruto and his way too trusting behavior, how he went and told Erwin how he was from another world. **

**First off, I understand completely. I already messaged a couple reviewers back and hopefully alleviate their concerns. But for those who of course didn't get the explanation, I will do so now. A****s I was writing that scene even I was thinking, "What a naive idiot", but that is his charm I guess, what makes him the beloved character we enjoy.**

******Also it should be noted, when he first was confronted the Legion, he asked them where Konoha was and where the Land of Fire was. So now he is already a suspicious and/or crazy guy. So he had to tell them, they would question him about it anyway. Also Naruto was never much of a ninja. I mean come on? Naruto, lying? Being deceitful? Pssshht. The only secret he has ever kept was about the Kyuubi, and even then he just goes and tells everyone about it after part 1. **

******I know a lot of people don't like the idiot personality, I don't either. But, I wanted him to be in character. ********Just know that he won't be that way forever. My story is about Naruto struggling to keep his "RESOLVE" and how his mentality wavers or changes in the face of the Titans brutality. Will his values change? What about his dreams? Kinda hard to stay your happy-go-lucky self after watching your comrades be devoured. Anyway that is enough spoilers and explanations, find out the rest by yourself when you read!**

******DISCLAIMER:** No. I don't own these franchises... I'm just a college student, trying to pay his bills... Stupid bills.

Chapter 1

Just Getting Started

The scouting Legion finally returned to Trost the next day. They had kept Naruto in one of the caravans as they went to their temporary base inside Wall Rose. The less people know about him the better. So now at the training grounds of the base, we find our hero struggling.

Erwin watched with a small smile as Naruto fiddled with the full body harness that one wears to utilize the 3D Maneuver Gear. He was grumbling to himself as Petra tried to help him put on the equipment.

He was against putting on the Device at first saying it will get in his way, but Erwin quickly convinced him of the benefits of using both his abilities and the Maneuver Gear with a few demonstrations from Levi. Naruto then went through a series of badass scenarios of his awesomeness in his head as he saw himself using jutsus and grappling through the woods. Even if he was used to traveling through the trees as a ninja, he had to admit that the Maneuver Gear was pretty badass.

So now we find Naruto in the process of putting on his equipment so that he can begin his training.

Erwin decided that he would train Naruto with the Legion and then drop him off with the other Trainees once he learned enough. He still had to go through the military and protocol. You can't have unknowns in your military, they aren't just gonna accept Naruto out of the blue and put him in a squad just like that. So Erwin decided that since Naruto represents such a vital asset to Humanity, that he should take it upon himself to train and sponsor Naruto so he could be accepted into the military and fight without any problems. He would have to be in the Scouting Legion of course and keep his abilities away from the prying eyes of the corrupt leaders and Military Police.

He definitely didn't want a witch hunt.

Back with Naruto, he finally finished putting on the harnesses. He thanked Petra for her help, but kept grumbling to himself. Raising an eyebrow Erwin asked him,

"Naruto, is there something wrong?"

Naruto looked up toward the Commander and then back down to himself. He was wearing new clothes since his old clothes were ruined from his fight with Nagato. He had on the normal military white pants and knee high leather boots despite his protests to keep his ninja sandals. He was able to keep his hitai-ate and get someone to patch up his shirt so he had on his black t-shirt with the orange konoha spiral flame in the front. He had his metal mesh armor underneath that as well. On top of that was the full body harness that he was struggling with moments ago, with a strange - Naruto's opinion - skirt-like thing wrapped around his hips and butt. When he asked what it was he was told it was part of the harness to help spread the weight around it and make it more comfortable. And lastly, he has one of the brown jackets that every soldier wears without any patches. It honestly still reminded him of Sai's, just not black. That thought always makes him shiver slightly.

Naruto looked back up after analyzing his clothes and says in a serious tone, "There isn't enough orange."

Petra nearby sweatdrops and Erwin decides to ignore him. He has plenty of eccentric subordinates, he knows how to deal with them and their quirks. Ignore it like it isn't there.

And so began Naruto's training. They had a makeshift set for stimulating the 3DMG with rigging and two wires like what the trainees have. They set Naruto up and had him lifted up to check his balance and potential. Naruto wasn't steady at first, shaking a little but he found his center soon enough and hung steadily. Naruto chalked it up to his training. I mean he can walk on water!

From then on it became a crash course for Naruto to get him caught up to the Trainees and quickly bring him up to the quality of a new soldier regarding 3DMG. After reminding Erwin of the benefits of his shadow clones, Naruto had 30 go with a woman named Hanji and Petra for the classroom and tactical side of the training. Meanwhile, Naruto and 30 others went with Erwin and Levi for the physical side of the training along with the application of the 3DMG.

From then on it was just rinse and repeat for Naruto.

After three months Naruto had more than caught up with the current trainees. At the level of a graduate in 3DMG, he was ready to apply his knowledge and abilities and mix it with his ninja capabilities. A test run really.

So secretly, Erwin hid Naruto in a caravan once more as the Scouting Legion headed out for their 51st expedition.

Once they left the gates of Trost and got out of sight of the sentries, Naruto climbed out and hopped onto a nearby extra horse. He rode forward with a 3DMG and the green cloak of the Scouting Legion flapping behind him until he was at Erwins side. He nodded once to his Commander who nodded in return.

The 51st expedition had officially started.

**XXX**

Naruto was pretty excited. It was like the C-Rank mission to Wave all over again. It was his first time on a mission or expedition as they called it. But knowing his luck it will turnout exactly the same way.

But he couldn't think like that, he was more powerful than his younger self and he has some technology to boost his combat capabilities. This won't turn into a clusterfuck, he will protect his new comrades. Thirty percent casualties on every expedition may sit alright with the higher ups and the people who have never seen a Titan before, but for Naruto, it was unacceptable. When he heard that statistic, he made it his goal to lower it substantially. He wouldn't settle for thirty percent and shrug it off. Those in thirty percent are still people, they aren't numbers. They have names and families, so Naruto will make sure that as many as possible return to the gates. And that is a promise of a goddamn lifetime.

The goal of the Scouting Legion after Wall Maria fell, is to set up numerous supply lines to the breached wall so they could seal it. How they will seal it they are not sure. Cross that bridge when they get to it and all that. Naruto thought that the reason they were so loose with the planning is because most did not believe they could take the wall back. The best estimates say that will take a decade or more to retake the wall and the territory within, and that's being optimistic.

As they continue to ride Naruto can't help but notice how pessimistic most people in this world are. Most fight just to get some sort of revenge before they die. They just want to kill a lot of Titans before their demise. Either that or hope they never have to fight them like some in the Garrison and Military Police. The rest feel that they should just stay in the walls hoping the Titans leave them alone or pretend they don't exist. The lack of faith or hope for the future really astonished Naruto, they either accepted their supposed fate and just want to do as much damage as they can before they go out or they play ignorant to the issues. Maybe he shouldn't blame them, he probably hasn't dealt with the things they went through, but he just can't help but be disappointed in those people. If you are unhappy with your situation do something about it!

However there are a few who haven't given up, most of them are in the Scouting Legion. People like Erwin and the others are in the minority. But sometimes to get the ball rolling all you need is a push. An inspiration, a symbol for hope as both the sword and shield to Humanity. That is what Erwin wants the Legion to be and Naruto will be there with him.

Naruto is shaken from his thought as Erwin calls out to him.

"Naruto! Our first supply point is in the small town ahead!" he yelled out over the thundering hooves of their galloping horses.

"There may be Titans in the town so be on alert! We move in hard and fast, move out!"

Naruto nodded once and jumped off his horse. He was saving his strength for the fight by riding, though now that they are close, it was time for him to storm in the shinobi way. He sprinted forward with his arms flowing behind him, moving ahead of the formation and closer to the nearby buildings. Once in range he launched himself forward with the 3DMG. He gracefully landed on the roof and kept sprinting forward jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He occasionally used the gear to save his strength once more.

As he was moving to his objective he remembered his part in the plan. He was to take the tallest building in the center of the town. Since he was one of their new heavy hitters and secret weapon, they needed him to take the vantage point of the town. It was also his test. How well could he perform under this situation? Could he adapt? These were things Erwin wanted to find out. He had already gotten glimpses of all of Naruto's abilities during their training, he just hasn't seen it in combat yet. Even Squad leader Hanji was looking forward to what Chakra can do to Titans.

Naruto stumbled out of his thoughts as a nearby building shuddered before collapsing as an eleven meter class charged through it and toward him. It had messy black hair filled with the rubble and dust of the building it crashed into. It's face looked like it was taking a dump. Uncomfortable, but satisfied. Weird combination, but that is what was the first thing that came to Naruto's mind. But then he saw the blood dripping out the corner of its mouth.

Naruto grimaced as he got his grips and attached them to the blades at his hips crossing his arms in the process. He sprinted forward enhancing his speed with chakra making him a blur to most eyes. The greenish blur seemingly bounced from the building to the street below to the building next to the Titan before zooming to its neck. By the time the Titan fully emerged from the rubble, Naruto was landing on the rooftop behind it sheathing his blades as they steamed and hissed from the hot blood of the Titan.

Naruto didn't even turn around as the Titan fell forward with a death shudder flopping to the ground lifelessly as the ground shook slightly, he moved forward with determination. These things may look human in some aspects, but they were monsters. He could hear faint screams behind him and to his left already. He couldn't hold back, he couldn't hesitate, lives were on the line and not everyone had the luxury of chakra at their disposal. And as badly as he wanted to spam his shadow clones and take the town by himself, Erwin warned him against that during the planning. He said Titans are attracted to large numbers and that would just attract more of them. And they didn't want to face hordes of them.

So he grit his teeth and sprinted to the tallest building in the town, a bell tower at the center of the town. Everyone else was doing their jobs of protecting his flank as he cut through the center straight toward it. He ran the way up with his chakra and once he got to the top, he reached into his small pouch and readied a smoke flare. He popped in the round and fired to the sky.

In the center of the formation not far behind Naruto, Erwin saw the Green smoke and smiled slightly. So far its been a success, now it was time for the next phase. Everyone meets at the tower and from the tower they will clear the town like an expanding circle. Numerous Squads of five all moving to the edge of town. The strongest squads and member were at the cardinal points of the formation, so that one side would not over expand the other. Corporal Levi took the North since it was the most dangerous being the unknown part of town and most likely with the most Titans, Mike Zacharias would go West, Hanji would go East and a squad leader named Ness would go South. Naruto meanwhile was in a squad going to the Northeast with Erwin.

Erwin stood on a building overlooking the squads below as they prepared to move out. No one was really talking, they knew what they had to do, this town was one of the many town that would become the supply points and stepping stones for the army that would retake Wall Maria and the territory lost within it. And they were determined to see this through.

Erwin nodded to them all. No words were needed, they all knew the score when they joined this branch of the military. They would offer up their hearts to humanity for its betterment. To those cozy within the walls, they may seem crazy, willing to die and suicidal, but they were people who simply desired change, not just for humanity but for themselves and their families. A world free from the oppression of Titans and the fear that comes with being a peg below the top of the food chain. But even though words were not necessary, a little speech and morale boost never hurt a soldier.

"Humanity has been stumbling and falling backwards for over a century. Right now this is the first step of many steps forward. And these steps, will turn into fierce stampedes soon enough, when we lead the army into the Zhiganshina district to seal the holes. We of the Scouting Legion truly salute our hearts, we pave the way with our blood, sweat, and tears! We will take this town from the Titans! SHOW ME WHAT I KNOW YOU CAN DO!" he roared at the end as everyone below roared back in confidence.

"Move to your positions, I will give the signal to begin clearing the town. Eliminate them all swiftly, show them why they shouldn't mess with humanity!" he said once more, sweeping his arm to the side.

As Naruto moved to his position, he couldn't help but feel... something. He felt more confident, he felt more motivated, like he will win. Then he realized just how good of a leader Erwin really was. His charisma really has that kind of an effect on people. With someone like him leading, humanity is in good hands.

Naruto nodded to Erwin as he and the squad assigned to the Northeast stood next to him. Erwin nodded back and turned around ready to move. He pulled out his smoke flare gun and fired a single green round to the sky.

"ADVANCE!" he roared once more as he launched himself with the 3DMG to the edge of town leading the squad.

Naruto grinned in determination as he followed after him. He was mixing using chakra to propel himself and keep up with his 3D Maneuver Gear. A mix of conserving his chakra and gas once more.

They weren't half way from the edge of town when they were confronted by some Titans.

A member of the squad yelled over to Erwin, "Commander! We have two Titans ahead; a 10 meter class and a 12 meter class!"

Naruto heard some rumbling and looked to his left. He sweated slightly at the single Titan coming toward them.

He yelled out though, "Commander Erwin, we got a 15 meter coming toward us from the right, it looks like a Deviant!" It was currently climbing over the building like one would fences, and it had its eyes set on them.

Naruto looked back and forth between the figurative rock and a hard place they had found themselves in and made a decision.

"Commander!" Naruto got his commander's attention as he turned to face the Deviant, "I'll take the Deviant! You and the squad take the other two! I'll leave two clones with you!" So he made the cross shaped hand sign and in a poof of smoke there were four shadow clones. Two went with Erwin and before he could protest Naruto for going by himself, the original and the last two sprinted and swung themselves over to the Deviant.

In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, Erwin let a scowl appear on his face as he yelled out to him, "Don't be reckless Naruto! Deviants are unpredictable!"

It was the nearby clone that replied however, "So is the boss commander." it said with a smirk.

The other clone was more serious, "You know why he has to face it alone, distract the largest threat and then eliminate the smaller threats so you can then focus on the bigger threat without distraction. Plus we need to do this quick and clear the town, we can't stop. So lets take these bastards down and go help the boss."

"That's if the boss still needs it." the cocky clone stated with a grin.

After letting out an almost unnoticeable sigh, he cried out, "Let's go!" he then set his face back to being stoic.

"Osu!"

**XXX**

Naruto and his two clones were getting closer to the building climbing Deviant that seemed to be staring Naruto directly in the eyes the whole time. He turned to his clones though and nodded. They nodded back and sprinted forward. One with chakra while the other ran normally. Naruto on the other hand used his 3DMG.

He swung and grappled through the buildings gaining momentum through the buildings and streets when he felt the memory of one of his clones.

The one running normally was the distraction, while the chakra enhanced one was fighting guerilla style, attack and retreat. Slice at something and then pull back before you can get caught, generally being an annoyance. The slower one was running at it when suddenly the deviant jumped. It was sprawled over a building rooftop like a baby would crawl over an object, when it used its legs and arms to propel itself forward with surprising speed at the building the clone was currently on. The clone was too surprised by the maneuver to move and was consequently crushed ending its life in a poof of smoke.

Naruto and his last clone chose this time to act. The speedy clone ran forward and used the 3DMG to grapple himself forward. The Deviant was still dazed and confused after the crash and possibly wondering why there wasn't any blood. As it went to climb on the building to possibly jump at someone once more, the clone came and sliced its achilles tendons, making it stumble as it tried to climb and fell face first to the street below. The original Naruto was in the air, having propelled himself above the Titan. He had another clone next to him waving its hands around a ball of blue chakra in his outstretched hand. As he began his descent to the nape of the neck the ball of swirling chakra grew larger and larger.

"OODAMA RASENGAN!"

Naruto slammed the massive ball of grinding chakra into the vital spot of the Titan. He kept pushing and grinding it further, blood started to splatter freely now and with one final yell Naruto let the ball explode outward causing a small crater to form around the impact area.

Naruto jumped off the back as he watched the Deviant corpse begin to decay in the usual Titan manner. He dismissed his clones and ran to check on his commander. He would probably get chewed out for being reckless and going off without orders. Oh well, not the first time that has happened, he never was a disciplined soldier. He did call his village leaders and technically generals "Old man" and "Granny".

He arrived just in time to see the 12 meter class fall from a combination between Erwin and his clones while the rest of the squad came back after presumably finishing the the 10 meter class.

Naruto landed on the rooftop not far from Erwin as he got the memories from his clones dispelling themselves. He sighed to himself and wondered why his clones always came out with different personalities.

Erwin nodded to him but had a frown on his face. He turned to Naruto and said, "Naruto next time don't go running off without orders. I know you are stronger than most, but everyone can't go off and do whatever they feel like doing in a battle, there has to be order and control in order to win. Understand?"

Naruto straightened up and said, "I'm sorry sir. I was just thinking on my toes. It seemed like a good plan..." He trailed off

Erwin sighed, 'For all his good traits and fighting capabilities, he has a dangerous hero complex and is reckless in fights, charging head on thinking spontaneously. He must be used to working in small groups where his opinion weighs a lot. He assumed we would know what he is thinking and go with his plan. We will work on that later.'

"We will talk later, for now though we finish our objective. We are behind as it is, I can see green smoke from certain points in the town meaning some squads have reached their point of the edge of town. Let's move!"

A chorus of "Yes, Commander!" answered him as they once again advanced.

They got to the edge of town with no further problems from Titans. Erwin nodded to one of the squad members as he fired a green smoke round up. They were the second to last ones to fire the round by Erwin's count of smoke rounds and squads. Then, a green smoke round fired from Levi's direction moments after theirs.

"Good, that is everyone. Now we will set up a building as the main supply point with the non perishable rations and equipment. Fire the yellow round to let the supply team know to start unloading it into the most stable building they can find. Mike should be back there to help direct them. I will head back to direct them as well. Naruto use your clones to scout and patrol the outskirts. The rest of you follow the plan and patrol your assigned part of the town. Dismissed!" As he said that everyone scattered to do their assigned jobs.

Naruto grimaced as everyone left. He wasn't looking forward to the scolding he will probably get later. He shook his head though and made the familiar hand sign. In a large poof of smoke, 50 kage bunshin were in front of him.

"You know what to do, scatter!" he said sweeping his arm across to disperse them.

Naruto meanwhile sat on the building overlooking the plain and concentrated. He called upon the planet's abundant Natural Energy and entered Sage Mode. He felt the numerous signatures of his comrades. So far, it seemed there have been only a few casualties. That was good. He would prefer zero, but its better than what it could have been.

As Naruto meditated in Sage Mode, he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. Which is strange considering he always feels calm in this state. He remembers when that old toad sage Fukasaku told him- "GAAAHH! I'm an idiot!" Naruto yelled.

How could he forget something like that? They should know what to do! The are like hundreds of years old and old people know tons of stuff! Man how could he forget to summon the toads?! Summoning Jutsu is a Space-Time technique right? Man he just proved everyone back home right about him being a dobe.

Home...

He hasn't even really thought about it that much these past three or so months... That is kinda scary actually...

He shook himself from those thoughts and went back to the task at hand, so he bit his thumb to draw some blood, and went through some hand signs and called out,

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A medium sized puff of smoke came into existence followed by some coughing and a deep voice that sounded like a teen.

**"Gah-ah-kack-ugh... What the hell? Where am I, who summoned me?" **Well that voice sounded familiar.

"Gamakichi?"

**"Naruto why do you always summon us to weird places, you- Wait... Naruto?!" **And once the smoke cleared Gamakichi confirmed the voice of the resident and newly minted Toad Sage.

**"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN JACKASS?! EVERYONE THOUGHT YOU WERE CAPTURED!" **he yelled in frustration. The toads knew he wasn't dead, his signature on the contract was still intact and not black. So they told everyone in Konoha that, much to everyone and Kakashi's relief. He still got a good tongue lashing though from Tsunade when she woke up.

"Well that masked guy tried to teleport me somewhere after my fight with Nagato, I tried fighting it and flared mine and Kyuubi's chakra to get my body to move. Kyuubi thinks that is what botched it and caused me to be sent to this place. We think its another world." He answered.

**"Wow. That is a pretty damn good reason. No wonder the reverse summoning wasn't working. We could feel the pull, like the one you get when you attach a rope to a tree, but you can't really move it since its too heavy. We need a lot of chakra to reverse summon you."**

"Huh... Well that explains why you got summoned, I was aiming for the old toad sage Fukasaku... I must need a lot of chakra to summon him and I am in Sage mode!"

**"Well we are pretty far from Mount Myoboku... So what have you been doing?"**

Naruto proceeded to tell Gamakichi all the details since his arrival. Needless to say, he was shocked. This world was in a bad place regarding the human race.

**"Damn. Well back home things aren't that bad, a little tense right now though. Akatsuki seems to have gone dark for the moment since you disappeared. They must think you are dead, if how you say you got here is anything to go by. There is also one jinchuuriki left, the Hachibi container. He was almost captured and the Raikage almost went on a rampage, though they found out he was just on a self-imposed vacation, hehe!"** They both shared a laugh at that, then he continued, **"Well I should probably tell Fukasaku-sama what's going on so he can tell Tsunade. She has been worried I hear. **

"Yeah... Well tell her not to worry about me, it'll just give her more wrinkles!"

**"Ha! She would punch you through the Hokage monument for that!"**

"Heh, well I'll send a letter through a messenger toad to describe everything later, I'm kind of in the middle of a mission right now, me summoning you was a spur of the moment thing really, heh-he..." he said sheepishly.

**"Really, so there are those Titan things around here? I want to see these ugly things!"** Gamakichi suddenly exclaimed, feeling excited over the new discovery.

"Kichi this is serious! These things can be dangerous!"

The son of the Toad Boss just deadpanned and said,** "Coming from the guy who beat Pain?"**

"Grr, you know what I mean! And besides people here have never seen talking animals! They will go crazy and try to kill you!"

**"Tch, asshole. I bet you just want to ruin my fun..." **he pouted.

"Shut it and go home you overgrown wart."

**"See you, Dumbass!" **he said before poofing away to the home of the toads.

"Tch, no respect to the summoner... Hmm?"

Suddenly Naruto began to feel numerous signatures heading from the North. None of them were from the expedition. There had to 23 exactly in all. Some were moving at a casual pace others were sprinting.

'Damn it. This isn't good, not good at all!' he mentally panicked. He made two clones, one to inform Erwin the other he simply dispelled giving the info to his clones on patrol.

'Shit, shit, shit! Why are there so many coming at once?!' They were all in a group too, there weren't any coming from any other direction it was just from the North.

When he got to the North side of town, he was met by 30 of his clones, he assumed they must be taking positions elsewhere. The plain to the North was a 100 meters away and the direction the Titans were coming from. He was currently in the town park or something since there were a few buildings in the area, but it was mostly tall trees. He could work with this.

"Alright guys, we got to hold these guys off! We can't let them take the town got it? No more casualties today!"

"Osu!" they saluted as they sprinted forward and took position in various places for an ideal ambush. Others kept going forward and moved to heard them toward the center of the clone gauntlet. That and to make sure none run off on their radar and cause havoc.

Out the corner of his eye, he saw several black smoke flares pointing to the North. Good they got his message. Even if he has chakra, going against 23 Titans and possible Deviants is not a good idea. As the first couple of running Titans came into view, once thought came into his mind,

'Yup, just like the Wave mission.'

**XXX**

When Erwin was giving instructions to the supply team, he noticed the person he was talking to tense. He turned around and was met by Naruto - maybe, you never know if its him with that clone ability - and noticed the serious yet slightly panicked look in his face.

"What's wrong Naruto?"

"Boss, says Twenty-three Titans are coming to the town from the North. He and most of the clones are setting up a defensive perimeter and line at the town park, though we could definitely use the backup." it said in a nervous fashion.

Well damn, twenty-three?

"Let's rally the troops, get me a flare gun! Naruto is holding them off!" Levi and Mike who were in the building at the time of the conversation went outside to gather their squads and move to back up the new kid with weird powers.

Once Erwin got outside he used his maneuver gear to launch himself to the rooftop and fire a black round to the North. He then proceeded to lead the reinforcements that were ready consisting of his squad and Levi and Mike's. As ominous rumblings and explosions filled the air to the North, everyone grimaced.

The Titans were here.

And they had a comrade to backup.

**XXX**

"FUCK!" Naruto had to roll out of the way of a pudgy appendage that attempted to grab him and ran up the arm of the obese Titan. He slashed the unfocused eyes causing it to thrash in pain. Using chakra he ran around the body to the neck and sliced it open, ending its life. Naruto looked up from his spot on the corpse and grimaced. The Titans were all in one group running around trying to grab the scampering clones like one would a bug. They didn't go running into the town yet, but it still wasn't looking good.

Half his clones were gone. He had to save his chakra so spamming them wasn't an option right now. Most went out due to distracting them and funneling them into the prepared gauntlet. That is where things went bad. Out of the twenty-three Titans, four were Deviants. They would run in circles or ignore the distractions before bum rushing the gauntlet and interrupting the clones and himself from taking out the smaller and less dangerous Titans. They managed to take out seven of them so far, but none of them Deviants. They had a long way to go.

"Tch, you two come here!" he pointed at two clones who were about to run into the group and do a suicide run.

"I got enough Natural Energy left in me right now for one, let's do it!" they nodded determinedly as they all began to focus on a swirl of energy that was becoming larger in their hands. It became lighter blue, more to the shade of white as four protrusions of wind, similar to a shuriken began to spin at high speeds causing a loud high-pitched whine. The original held it above his head as it grew to a large size and span faster causing the wind to pick up and swirl around him.

His clones tried to funnel and group the remaining Titans together so they could do as much damage as they can with this next move. That cost them 10 more clones. Naruto though thought it was good enough, he reared back and threw the wind chakra shuriken of destruction at the horde.

"FUUTON: RASENSHURIKEN!"

A seven meter class turned to see what the annoying noise was as it took its attention off the disappearing blondes. As it did it was immediately decapitated by the chakra shuriken while also disintegrating the nape of its neck as it cut through it like butter. The pattern continued though as it went through other body parts such as legs and torsos before the blades suddenly expanded, further bifurcating more of the group. The sphere of destruction then erupted into a dome of microscopic wind blades destroying those fully caught in the blast.

When the winds died down, Naruto was panting, hunched over with his hands on his knees for support. The remaining five clones from the start stood in front of him protectively. The Rasenshuriken took out seven of the remaining Titans including one of the deviants. Three of them were wounded including one Deviant that is missing an arm and were slowly regenerating their missing limbs and body parts. Idly, Naruto realized they were healing slower than usual. So six were still ok - two of them deviants - while three were on their way to being back to their man-eating selves.

Meanwhile Naruto is exhausted, and only has five clones to back him up. One clone summed it up nicely.

"Well, shit. This sucks."

A shadow passed over him startling him. He calmed down though and sighed in relief as he saw the familiar green cloaks with the "Wings of Freedom" on the back.

A voice that came off cocky then said aloud before swinging into action, "Hey brat, nice job. But you take it easy, I'll take over from here!"

"Auruo, quit acting like you're Corporal Levi!" came the familiar feminine voice of Petra Ral

"Quit scolding me like you're my wife!"

"Shut up. We got bigger things to worry about." said the annoyed voice of Corporal Levi.

Naruto told his clones to help them and give them information on the Deviants behaviors as he sat down abruptly on the street in exhaustion. He then felt a hand patting his shoulder. He looked up to see a smile on his Commander's face as more Titans fell to the reinforcements.

"Good work Naruto, this town could have fallen and we would have taken heavy casualties if it wasn't for you." he said proudly.

Naruto just smiled tiredly and said in a strained voice, "No problem. It's why I'm here right? If more people survive and can fight another day due to my actions, I'm happy."

Erwin looked at him in surprise, before another smile came. "We need more people with your mentality in the world Naruto. I'm sure if we did, it would be a better place. But for now get some rest, we will take over from here." He motioned for two soldiers to help Naruto retreat to the supply point and recover.

As Naruto had himself get supported by two of his comrades, he let a smile come to his face. In the end, he did good right? He helped protect people, something he always wanted, he wanted to be hero. And as he landed in the supply point with the help of the two men, and was welcomed by smiles and pats on the back. He certainly felt like one.

He was acknowledged by his new comrades, they respected him.

He just let out a small chuckle as he laid on a cot in the main building of the supply point and closed his eyes for a short rest.

**XXX**

It was two weeks later when the Scouting Legion returned to Trost. The people and soldiers of Trost noticed something strange. Usually when they come back from an expedition, they are sombre or really serious, at best stoic. It usually means that they didn't get much done or a lot of casualties occurred.

But, when they came back and were chatting normally to themselves, some with smiles on their faces, this caused quite a commotion. Everyone left their homes and jobs to see the Legion return once the word began to spread. A happy Scouting legion returning? That was something people had to see, Even some soldiers of the Garrison left their posts to possibly overhear a conversation to figure out why they seemed so upbeat.

Of course they didn't get much that way. Most were talking about normal stuff, like they can't wait to take a shower or sleep in a real bed, or go get drunk later and pick up some girls. Some just wanted to go see their family and meet up with some friends. This was all said with smiles or in a joking manner. It really stupefied the populace.

Levi noticed and just called them idiots and Erwin along with the rest of the Legion were their normal selves. In the end the people that came to welcome them didn't get an answer, though that didn't stop the rumors from flying. There were rumors such as: they killed thousands of Titans and that they lost not a single soldier. They retook Wall Maria, they discovered secrets of the Titans and used it against them, the craziest of them all was that they found a superhuman and convinced him to fight with them. Hiding in a one of the caravans, Naruto barely muffled a sudden sneeze.

The real reason they were happy though is because they set up two major supply points and several smaller supply points in between. Of course there was the fact that they had only 10 percent casualties this time, 7 percent of that were wounded. That was a seriously big step from the consistent 30 or more percent casualty rate.

**XXX**

Once they got back to the Headquarters, Naruto climbed out of the caravan and stretched and tried to get the kinks out of his joints. The caravan filled with supplies wasn't the most comfortable thing to ride in. He moved around trying to keep himself busy as he helped unload supplies and equipment, just making himself useful. It was later on in the afternoon when he was called to his Commander's office.

When he entered, he saw Erwin was doing some paperwork - making him inwardly snicker as he thought of all the paperwork Tsunade had to do all the time - and Mike was by the Window behind him. Noticing his entrance, he motioned for Naruto to take a seat.

When he did he asked, "What's this about Commander?"

"Well Naruto," he folded his hands in front of him after he put his pen down, "Its time for you to be officially instated into the military."

Naruto perked up at that, "Really? So when do I get a new jacket with a patch?" He asked excitedly.

Erwin and Mike chuckled a little, but answered, "Naruto, remember you have to get promoted with the other Trainees so as to not warrant suspicion?"

"Ugh, I forgot..."

"I figured you would. But don't worry you won't have to be there long, just a year and a couple months." Mike chuckled more as he heard Naruto groan.

"Look on the bright side," Naruto looked up to the human bloodhound named Mike who was smirking, "You will be surrounded by people your age, think of it as a camp."

"A military boot camp." Erwin finished with a smile.

He groaned some more, "Are you sure I can't just-"

"Naruto, we talked about this."

He sighed, "Fine..." he then pouted, "Stupid rookies will drag me down... You jerks are gonna miss me!" he grinned good naturedly as he saluted his temporary and future commander.

They both saluted back as Naruto left to get his things.

Once he left Erwin went back to work and Mike said, "We are definitely gonna miss him. He is the reason so many came back today."

Erwin sighed and replied, "I know, but if we want things to run smoothly and not have to hide him all the time, we will accomplish so much more. Its only a year anyway. He'll be back here annoying us in no time."

**XXX**

Naruto stood before a man named Keith Shadis with Corporal Levi beside him. Keith is bald, with a wheatish complexion and has wrinkles on his forehead. His most notable features are dark circles around his eyes and lack of eyebrows reminding Naruto of Gaara. He also has a beard on his chin.

"So you are here to enter with the current Trainees."

"Yup."

"And you have been sponsored by the Scouting Legion."

"... Yeah the brat is." came an annoyed and bored reply from Levi.

"Tch, dick..." came a mumble.

"What was that?" he asked darkly.

"Nothing!"

"Well I don't see why you can't if the Scouting Legion thinks you're capable. Go report to this cabin and get your trainee jacket at this location. They will also give you a schedule to which we do things around here. If you have questions ask your fellow trainees. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Naruto saluted.

"Good dismissed."

"See ya around Levi."

"You too brat."

Naruto left the room grumbling leaving the two men alone. Shadis turned to Levi and said, "I know he is probably stronger than he will let on since you guys are doing something that hasn't been done since you came here with Erwin, but I want to know. How strong is he?"

Levi raised an eyebrow before he said simply, "Strong enough to get our attention without training." he left after that leaving Shadis to his thoughts.

After getting his jacket and schedule, Naruto found himself in front of his new cabin. He knocked on the door three times and waited. After a few seconds a teen a year younger or so than him opened the door. He had messy brown hair that wasn't too short or long with green eyes, they were also around the same height. The teen raised an eyebrow at the newcomer, but asked, "Yeah, can I help you?"

"Yeah I'm new, and I was assigned to this cabin. I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way! Nice to meet you..."

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Eren Yaeger, you can put you stuff on that extra bunk, I was just gonna head to the main cabin for some dinner with the rest of the trainees, I can introduce you to everyone."

"Oh, that'd be cool! Let's go!" Naruto replied happily. He threw the pack of things and belongings at the bunk and took off his trainee jacket to follow Eren for some dinner. Something cooked instead of rations... Oh yeah...

They got to the main cabin and Naruto could smell the food, his mouth was already watering.

"Here we are, well let's go, I can introduce you to some of my friends as well and sit with us."

Naruto was barely paying attention at this point so he just nodded. The smell was intoxicating.

Eren opened the door and let Naruto in before closing it, he then called everyone's attention and said, "Hey guys!" people started to quiet down and then they noticed Naruto standing next to him and began to whisper. "This here is Naruto he is new and is gonna be a part of our Trainee Squad."

"Yo! Nice to meet all of you!" Naruto gave them all his classic grin and a two-fingered salute.

* * *

**Chapter One is done! **

**Wow, so far, I have the most everything for this crossover. That is really surprising. Words, Follows, Favorites, and Reviews. Is this because my story is good and successful or was I just a guy who is among the first to write in this crossover... I'll stick with success, it's better for my self-esteem.**

**If you want to talk about the series you can pm me and not worry about spoilers. I'm up to date on the manga, I know what has happened so far.**

**So Fav, Follow and lastly please Review! **

**Peace out,**

**Markus-Antonius**


	3. First Impressions Are Everything!

**Markus-Antonius is back!**

**I-I-It's... It's so damn beautiful! All these reviews and favorites and follows! FOR TWO CHAPTERS! Over 260 favs and follows each and 114 reviews... Should I laugh or should I cry? Maybe a mix of both?**

**Yeah I'll go with that, give me a minute please...**

**...**

**...**

**O-ok... I'm good! I'm good! **

**I'm really happy everyone loves the chapters so far! Makes me feel awesome reading the compliments and comments about my story. A follow is like a nod of acknowledgement, a favorite is like a thumbs up in your direction with a smile, and a review is like a high five while they tell you what they thought of it. Unless its a flame of course lol**

**Anyway there was one concern. How Naruto got exhausted last chapter too easily. It wasn't chakra exhaustion, but the exhaustion he feels when he exhausts the energy of Sage mode. Not exhausted like I'm dead, just that burst of exhaustion when he uses Sage Mode up. They showed how he gets exhausted after he uses all the Natural energy within him against Pain and I used that. I'll try to avoid doing more of that though. Also people asked why he didn't spam clones like normal, well he was told not to since large numbers attract Titans. So he limited himself.**

**And that is all I got to say about that.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or Attack on Titan. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

Chapter 2

First Impressions Are Everything!

Naruto kept his grin going as he was met with stares. Blank stares.

'What the hell? Someone say something!' he thought while sweating nervously.

Eren chuckled uncomfortably and said, "Yeah... Well come on Naruto, you can sit with me."

Naruto dropped his grin followed after him with a depressed mood and cloud following him comically. No one reacted to his presence! That was insulting! He even got Levi to crack a smirk before he was able to hide it from the time he pranked Auruo. Hehe, he won't look at horses the same way again.

Naruto and Eren sat at a table that was also occupied by two other people. One was a boy Eren's age with blond hair that framed his face and blue eyes, he looked a little feminine for a guy to Naruto. Kinda reminded him of Haku. That caused him to choke a little on the bile rising to his throat. 'It's a trap! Don't let the thoughts wander!'

The other occupant was unmistakably female. She is definitely beautiful, short chin-length black hair and apathetic dark bluish-grey eyes and a red scarf around her neck. Naruto also realized she looked a lot like his people from the Elemental Nations.

When Naruto and Eren sat, conversations that were interrupted were quietly continued. Though a few glances were sent Naruto's way in curiousity.

Eren decided to give further introductions in an attempt to diffuse the awkward atmosphere. He coughed slightly and said, "So Naruto this here is Armin Arlert," he gestured to the blonde boy who gave a timid wave in acknowledgement and a "Nice to meet you." to which Naruto returned with a nod, "and this is Mikasa Ackerman." This was of course the only girl at the table, she however just cooly regarded him out the corner of her eye as she took a bite out of her bread and nodded slightly with a quiet "Hello."

Naruto just smiled uncomfortably. What was with these personalities? How are they friends when they should clash or overwhelm each other?! One is an effeminate timid small boy, the other is a stoic girl who looks uninterested in anything - 'Wait a minute!' Naruto subtly glanced at Mikasa while taking a bite and nearly choked. 'She must have some Uchiha in her! At least she doesn't seem like she is some "avenger" or like she took too many anti-depressants like Itachi and talking in monotone.' Naruto thought.

The table was of course awkwardly quiet at the moment so Naruto kept analyzing. 'Eren seems normal. Well normalish, he is volunteering to fight giant man-eating monsters.' He corrected himself while slightly sweat dropping, 'At least he seems normal at first glance. I'll find out his quirk or abnormality soon enough... Every soldier ends up getting one...' He of course was thinking about his time with the Scouting Legion. And know that he thought about it, Konoha as well. Everyone needs something to cope.

Eren couldn't take it anymore. The awkward silence was killing his dinner and mood. So he tried to start a conversation with the blond.

"So Naruto," after gaining his attention he continued, "How were you able to get in this Trainee Squad. I mean its almost been two years since we started the camp." He of course gained the attention of most of the people in earshot. Pretty much everyone in the mess hall considering how quiet it was.

Naruto had been prepared for these questions. Well, Erwin was actually the one that was prepared. So he told Naruto what he should say, mostly half-truths.

"Well, I was sponsored by the Scouting Legion."

That got a lot of wide-eyed reactions from the surrounding eavesdroppers and a dropped jaw from the boy asked.

"The Scouting Legion sponsored you?!" Eren practically yelled.

Naruto winced and cleaned out his ear and said, "Yeah, that's what I said."

"Why would they sponsor you?" now that question came from the timid Armin. Naruto also noticed his eyes held the same glint that Shikamaru had whenever he was actually in a mood to think about a problem in front of him.

Naruto leaned back and started to tell the half-truth that Erwin told him to say, "Well, over a couple months ago I was found by the Legion on one of their expeditions."

If there were any who didn't have wide eyes before they did now.

"What?!" was the common reply in the mess hall.

"Yeah, you see when the wall was breached, a lot of villages didn't get the same warning others got. Mine was out of the way from a lot of villages. Not many people even knew we existed actually. We were overrun."

He let that sink in. Some people in the room who have seen a Titan attack winced in sympathy or hardened their eyes. The rest were just curious or nervous to know what an actual Titan was like.

"I... was the only one to survive. I ran and hid. I survived on my own trying to get back to Wall Rose. But I had never been there so I was practically traveling blind... I kept trying to find my way over there, but its hard to make any progress moving with the occasional Titan wandering around." He paused for a grim chuckle and said with a bit of dark humor, "Good thing I'm good at climbing trees."

"... You were outside Wall Rose for over three years?" Eren questioned softly in disbelief. Being from the district where the original breach and Titan invasion began, he thought he had seen and experienced more than most here, but this guy in front of him...

"Yeah, I mostly stayed in the Forest of Giant Trees." Naruto said absently remembering his arrival. "That is probably both the safest and most dangerous place. A lot of high places to avoid the Titans, but a lot of Titans go through there."

"So! So you have seen a lot of Titans?" asked a short kid sitting at a nearby table with a buzz cut in curious, but nervous enthusiasm.

"... Yeah..." Naruto absently remembering the blood-stained grinning faces, "Yeah, I've killed some too."

Now that got everyone in the mess halls attention, everyone was turned to the conversation. Naruto finally realized that all eyes were on him. They had never killed one before, some haven't even seen one. Most likely from the information they have been taught, the Titans seem almost invincible. To hear that someone their age killing some has to be interesting and inspiring.

"You have killed Titans?! How? You were by yourself! How could you fight them?" Eren asked desperately. He wanted to kill them all more than anyone in the camp. He wanted to be a soldier because he was weak. He wanted to be strong. He had to watch his mother be devoured because he wasn't strong enough. But, hearing someone only slightly older than him saying he has killed Titans... Well it is enough to make one angry at themselves. Questions like, what does he have that I don't? He wanted to, no... He _needs_ to know how he was able to kill Titans before he was even trained.

"In my village there were a lot of laid back Garrison Troops." Naruto chuckled a bit and continued, "One of them taught me the basics of the 3DMG after I annoyed him half to death to teach me. I got it down pretty quickly."

"So you were taught. You used a 3DMG from one of the soldiers to survive, right?"

Naruto turned to the stoic girl with raven colored hair who drew her conclusions and nodded. "Yup. I used it sparingly though. It wasn't really my size and I had to save my supplies. I got lucky when I found an old Military base with supplies in the Forest of Giant Trees. I refilled my gas and blades there whenever I ran out."

"I probably killed less than ten in those three years. And those were all under the ten meter class. I never tried to fight them, I would always avoid them. I only fought when there was no choice, my priority was survival."Naruto then realized silently just how into this lie he was getting into. He was genuinely surprised with himself how easy this was. He never really lied to others, and if he did he was too nervous to make it seem convincing, but this felt like he was just telling a story. Is this how most people feel when they lie?

"What was the biggest one you have ever seen?" That question came from a timid short blonde girl with blue eyes, next to her was a tall girl who seemed like she was a year older than Naruto with darker skin, hair, and eyes with freckles across her face.

Naruto absently noted she was cute and said with a wry smile, "A 16 meter deviant." He paused when he heard some gasps, "Yeah, I didn't get much rest that day. I was too damn nervous." he finished with a mocking chuckle.

"It was trying to eat you?!" that girl sounded genuinely scared for him, how sweet of her.

"Nope." At the raised eyebrows he got in response he said, "Its was actually just laying on the ground at the base of the tree I was on. Just... Staring at me. While the smaller ones were clawing at the tree to get me, this one was just lounging around looking at me... That right there is scary."

That had actually happened to Naruto during the two week expedition. He had passed through the Forest of Giant Trees on their way back to Trost with a squad including Levi and his squad to see if he can learn how he got to this world. The expedition was waiting at a nearby supply point while they went through. There they encountered the group with the deviant and the smaller Titans. It was definitely unnerving to say the least.

A teen with messy light brown hair that was trimmed short on the sides and the back asked mockingly in a cocky and brash voice, "Oh? What is so scary about that?"

Naruto's eye slightly twitched once in reply. This guy reminded him of Kiba. So brash and annoying when they feel like they are gonna be out-shined or when they don't like someone. So he turned to the teen and said with a strained smile, "Have you ever seen a Titan?" At his silence he continued with the smile still intact, "They aren't pleasant, but even then they are straightforward relying on instinct. Deviants are terrifying because you don't know what they will do."

"I was standing on the branch looking down at the 16 meter Titan as it watched my every move while it just laid on the ground like it was sunbathing, laying there with an arm behind its head to rest it. Just waiting for me to make a mistake while the smaller ones clawed at the tree with their stupid grins on their blood-stained faces! Just looking at me like I am a snack, just something to fill it up for the time being. THAT is what is so scary about a deviant doing nothing but staring at you." At the end he couldn't control himself, of course they haven't experienced the things he has, but it was still really grating to hear someone rebuff his words so easily so he can boost his ego.

The brash teen named Jean, quickly clammed up after that, but not after shooting a withering glare at the blond.

It was pretty quiet after that story and outburst. It was just an uncomfortable silence.

"Uh." Eren winced when he broke the silence, it caused everyone to look at him. "So... How did the Scouting Legion end up finding you?" he asked lamely.

Naruto visibly brightened at that and said, "Right! Well I was resting on a branch at the edge of the forest looking out at the plain. That is when I saw the large dust cloud begin to form in the distance. At first I thought it was a bunch Titans lumbering and running around, but then I noticed how, different it was. It seemed organized. I noticed there weren't any Titans nearby so I went to check it out. We ended up meeting each other halfway."

After he continued everyone seemed to relax, Naruto was too. It was gonna be easier to say half-truths at this point now.

"What happened after they found you?" asked the short buzz cut kid again.

"Well they took me to the nearest base to talk to me, you know get some info. They were pretty shocked to see someone who isn't in the Scouting Legion outside the walls. I told them my story and I traveled with them until their expedition ended. I trained with them along the way when they weren't setting up supply points and fighting. After three or so months when we came back, they brought me inside the walls I've been looking for over three years. When I said I wanted to stay with them though, they said I had to go through the normal military parameters and get put in the Trainee Squad before I can choose what division to serve for. I didn't want to wait three years before I could fight and help them, so they sponsored me so I can move up as far as I can go in the program. And here I am. One more year and I'm back with the Scouting legion." Naruto finished his story with a determined grin on his face.

"Great another one..." was muttered by the brash teen from before.

"I want to join them as well!" replied Eren with a lot of determination showing on his fierce features.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked, "You do? Not many people do. A lot of people consider them to be suicidal. Why do you want to join them?"

Eren's eyes were shadowed slightly as he was silent for a moment. Armin looked uncomfortable as he glanced between Eren and Naruto. Mikasa just stared with almost unnoticeable concern in Eren's direction.

Eren finally looked up at Naruto, and his eyes slightly startled Naruto. They were filled with unbridled fury. It was focused however. There was plenty of determination and guts shining as well, not to mention the restrained fury, like it wasn't for him, it was an unselfish fury, like poetic justice. He answered with a strained voice filled with anger and determination, "I just want to annihilate all the Titans. I want to kill them all."

"But..." Naruto raised an eyebrow again, this time his eyes were shining with determination but there was a hint of being solemn. "I also want to see the world, the outside world. Everyone is born free in this world, we all deserve to live out there and experience it all."

Naruto smiled and said, "Well said, I think you will fit in fine with those lunatics."he finished with a wry grin.

"Hah?"

"Hehehehe, yeah the Legion has some interesting characters, you see there's..."

Dinner that night ended on a happier note. With Naruto telling jokes and describing some of his more interesting and fun experiences with the Legion. Well... Fun for him, the receptors of his pranks were less than thrilled. It did get the laughs going and the listeners interested however.

**XXX**

After a few days of conditioning and class work regarding military strategy and theory, it was that time of the week. Yes that is right, 3DMG practice. The class everyone loves and looks forward too, unless you suck at it.

Good thing by this point they have gotten rid of those that suck.

Naruto though was a little bored. Sure it was gonna be a lot more fun than the classes he had to sit through, or the easy conditioning exercises (For him), but using the 3D Maneuver Gear without Chakra to boost him and help him move faster and more precise, was gonna be boring. Sure Erwin had a point by saying he shouldn't use his chakra in the public eye and only outside the walls with the Scouting Legion, since it would bring unwanted attention to him. But, that is like saying to a bird, "Hey, don't use your wings unless I say so!"

Naruto has been using chakra since he first learned how to perform a jutsu. Henge was very useful for pranks.

But Naruto figured he would have to deal with it for a year and it was back to normal. It didn't mean he still didn't train at any given opportunity. Those deep forests surrounding the camp were very useful.

So here he was back in his Military outfit that was the same as the one he wore for the first day of the expedition with his hands clasped behind his head as he looked to the sky in boredom. Shikamaru would have like the clouds today he idly thought to himself.

What Naruto didn't know was that he was currently the topic of many conversations.

The cocky and brash kid named Jean Kirschtein was glancing at him while standing next to the short kid with a buzz cut named Connie Springer. As they were putting on their harnesses Jean muttered, "Well now we get to see if he is all talk or not."

Connie just looked between the two nervously and sighed, "Well, I may be an idiot, but even I know that if the Scouting Legion sponsored him he must be good Jean."

Jean just scoffed and muttered, "Whatever..."

With a bulky and stern looking blond that is appropriately named Reiner Braun and a tall dark haired teen of the same age that has self-esteem issues named Bertholdt Fubar, a similar conversation occurred.

"Well now we can see just what kind of soldier he is, right Bertholdt?"

"... I guess..." he replied lamely.

With Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, they were getting their equipment on like everyone else when they noticed our resident blond shinobi. Eren was the first to notice and said, "Well now we can see why the Scouting Legion sponsored him."

"I don't know..."

Mikasa raised an eyebrow at Armin's comment and questioned him, "What don't you know Armin?"

"I mean, I feel like there's something else to him that caught their attention. Like there is something more to him that we are missing." he replied with a contemplative look on his face.

"Are you sure you aren't just overthinking things Armin?" asked a skeptical Eren. The guy seemed alright with him.

"I don't know, there has to be something different about him if he could survive beyond the walls for three years."

The conversation went silent after that. It caused both Mikasa and Eren to be more thoughtful about the enigma named Naruto Uzumaki. Eren though didn't feel anything suspicious or bad from Naruto, he seemed really genuine. Its hard not to like the guy, he has a feeling around him that makes you want to befriend him or trust him.

Mikasa didn't know what to think after hearing Armin's thoughts on Naruto. Just because he may be hiding something from them doesn't mean he is a bad person. Everyone has their secrets after all. Hers being when her and Eren killed those kidnappers. She unknowingly mirrored Eren's thoughts on Naruto regarding his aura as well. She idly mused if it was his easy going attitude or carefree smile that seems to draw people in. He has only been at the camp a few days and he already has people making conversation with him as if he was here from the beginning.

"It doesn't mean he is a bad person though Armin." came Eren's eventual reply.

"I know that. I was just saying that there is probably more to him than we think." he shot back in defense.

"Yeah well no argument on that front."

"The hell are you meatbags standing around for?! Get in formation now!" barked the newly arrived Keith Shadis.

Everyone scrambled into their standby positions to wait for orders.

"Now we are going to test your ability to find and eliminate the Titans quickly and efficiently. In the training forest we have randomly placed your targets. They simulate a Titans height and movement. They may move slower than a Titan, but they will pivot and turn. You are going to have to work to attack the nape. You are split into three platoons with three squads in each. The one who attacks the most out of the three platoons will get a special prize." he finished with a smirk. It only grew when he heard the excited whispers.

Naruto went into his position within the third platoon, second squad. He happened to be with Eren, Mikasa, Armin, a girl named Sasha, a guy named Thomas, the cute girl Christa and Ymir.

"First Platoon! You're up!" he barked.

After waiting for them to get in position, he fought back another smirk at seeing their eager faces. He then yelled, "Begin!"

Naruto watched as the first platoon of three launched themselves into the forest. For some reason, this exercise really reminded him of something. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though.

'Let's see... What have I done where I had to take a test with weird vague rules where I had something on the line...' he thought to himself.

He was still thinking about it fifteen minutes later, when the second platoon took their turn, oddly the first didn't come back. 'Maybe they take you somewhere else when you finish?'

'... Wait... I know there is something familiar about this! Um... Chuunin Exams? The first test had weird rules, the second was a survival test... Survival test' here he scoffed to himself, 'I can't believe Kakashi-sensei called his test for Team 7 a survival test when there was a test like the second exam in Konoha. It did have some things that were similar to the first test where we had to look underneath the underneath to figure out we needed teamwork, but it was just a spar really.'

Naruto then froze, 'Look underneath, the underneath... Teamwork... This guy, he is pitting us against each other like Kakashi-sensei did us! He has to be testing us! I know in the Scouting Legion we relied on teamwork to deal with the tough Titans or when there was a bad situation.'

Discreetly he looked at the nearby squads of the third platoon and noticed that they weren't talking to each other and were just standing by themselves. They were probably gonna break the formation of their squad and look for the targets themselves so they can get the prize. 'That Shadis guy probably meant the squad that gets the most targets wins. Not the Individual! Ha! And they said I was an idiot!' he grinned to himself.

But then an imaginary tiny Kakashi appeared on his shoulder in a poof of smoke and said with his classic eye-smile and cheerful tone that sounded too sweet to be true, "Good job Naruto! And it only took you..." he pretended to look at a watch on his wrist and finished, "nearly half an hour to figure out!"

Naruto nearly face faulted right there. Damn his imaginary Kakashi downplaying his int-inte-intellect... smart achievement!

He grumbled to himself some more before he turned to his squad. Eren looked determined; Armin: nervous; Mikasa: stoic... No change there; Sasha: hungry and nervous; Thomas: intimidated; Christa: cutely worried; Ymir: bored.

"Hey guys..." He caught everyone's attention and motioned them to come closer and huddle around him. "I am pretty sure this is a test about Teamwork. We need to work together to get the most targets."

That got some raised eyebrows and looks of confusion, though Armin did look like he was thinking it over.

"What do you mean? You heard Shadis, he said the one who attacks the most targets gets a special prize." questioned Eren.

"He said you are split into squads and the one who attacks the most will get a prize... He played with his words and added incentive to cause chaos within the squads." Armin realized.

"... Yeah like that. In the Scouting Legion they rely on teamwork. Your own skills are important, but teamwork is even more important." Naruto affirmed.

"So if we work together we can get the most targets and win the prize!" exclaimed Christa

"Oh! I hope it's extra meals..." Sasha began to drool at the thought of extra food. This just caused everyone to sweat drop.

"Alright, so what do we do?" questioned Thomas. He was a little more confident knowing he wouldn't have to compete against someone like Mikasa.

"I think we should move in this formation through the forest," Armin stated, showing a little confidence and drawing a basic formation of an upside down V. "We will move like this through the forest a couple meters apart from each other so while we are still in formation, we can still have a wide view to find the targets faster."

"Sounds like a plan, let's get to it guys!" Naruto grinned toward everyone in the huddle.

"Hey, Naruto." Eren called him before he can turn around.

Naruto looked toward Eren who finished, "Thanks for telling us, we would have just ran off by ourselves if you hadn't of said anything."

Naruto just grinned good naturedly toward Eren and the rest of the group who nodded in agreement and said, "You guys don't need to thank me, we are comrades and are gonna be soldiers fighting next to each other. I'm always gonna have your backs!" he finished with his fox-like grin squinting his eyes.

Shadis the turned around to face the last platoon with a smirk only for it to falter when he noticed the second squad with the new recruit just coming out of a huddle to face the forest once more. They looked more confident than before. They didn't figure it out did they?

He shook himself of the thought and shouted, "Third Platoon Ready? Begin!"

The third platoon launched off with two of the three squads scattering into the forest to look on their own. Shadis noted that the remaining squad with the new kid leading it, stayed together. He smirked to himself, "The Scouting Legion sure found themselves an interesting one."

**XXX**

Launching through the trees in a device like the 3DMG instead of tree hopping with chakra like a shinobi was weird for Naruto. Even when he used the device he still used chakra with it to move faster and make sharper turns or scale obstacles easier. Now, he felt restrained. This year was going to be tough. Training in secret was going to be annoying as well.

His musings were brought to a halt when he saw a group of the targets. They were not that far apart from each other and the group numbered four in total. They were about 12 meters tall and were essentially wooden cutouts of a Titan's general shape. The "bullseye" was the padding on the nape of the neck. It is thick to measure the slashes of the trainees when they attack. The gears of the simulated Titan being pulled by rope by some other soldiers were turning to have it pivot and turn in place to enhance the difficulty, if only slightly.

"Let's move! Eren, Mikasa, Armin! You guys take the two in front, cut it even if one of you has done it already. Ymir, Christa take the one on the left. Sasha and Thomas you guys take the one on the right, if you have already taken out you target, assist the others."

"Right!" came everyone's reply.

"What about you?" asked Eren.

"I'm going for the hidden one, probably posing as a deviant. Now move!"

"W-what? A hidden one?! Oi! Wait up!" eren squawked out in surprise. They never had hidden ones like that before, where was it anyway?

"Come on Eren we can't let him get isolated with the Titans - even if they are fake - this is about Teamwork right?" said Armin.

The group moved quickly and efficiently, even when someone cut down the target, the partner still followed up to cut it down as well. You can never be too sure if you have cut it deep enough. Naruto found the hidden Target behind the nearby tree that was ready to pop up in front of unsuspecting trainees. It would most likely pivot to turn right in front of them causing them to panic and possibly crash. Unless they were Naruto who could spot the sloppy trap. Or Mikasa who is just too stoic and calm to be surprised by something like this.

Naruto simply landed on the branch above it and dropped down to its neck and sliced it open.

The rest of the test was easy from then on. They eventually took out 19 targets together. The most any other person took out individually was 6. Everyone else in the other Platoons were too busy trying to steal each others kills so they can get the most. There were some that stuck together like Reiner and Bertholdt, but even then they competed against each other.

"The winners of the test today are Third Platoon, Second Squad consisting of Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Yaeger, Armin Arlert, Sasha Braus, Thomas Wagner, Christa Renz, Ymir, and Naruto Uzumaki." stated Shadis. Causing them to either smirk, smile or grin.

"I know what most of you meatbags are thinking, 'I thought there was going to be only one winner, why is the whole squad winning?'" he mocked the confused trainees.

"They figured out the true meaning of this test, Teamwork. They looked past my words and banded together to take out the targets. They disregarded their selfish wants, and came together. We soldiers aren't monstrously physically strong, we can't regenerate decapitation like the Titans, but we have teamwork, we have ingenuity, and we have our blades. When you fight a Titan you are doing so as a team, not an individual. They cover your back and you cover theirs. They got so much more done as a team than any of you by yourselves." he said glaring at certain individuals.

"We value Teamwork in the Military, so if you want to be a successful soldier, you want to live your dreams and complete your goals, you are gonna have to suck up your pride and work with the man and woman next to you. Because maybe they just might be the person that saves you from the literal jaws of death." he finished gravely causing most - even some of the instructors - to gulp.

"Now this squad has earned their reward, No kitchen duty or chores for a month, seconds at meals for two weeks, and finally... a single chance to punish a single person to latrine duty."He finished with an evil smirk. This was of course mirrored by most of the squad, causing shivers to be sent down most people's spines.

"Sir? Permission to speak?"

"Speak freely Uzumaki."

"Thank you sir, I just have a question. Does the punishment apply to everyone in the camp, even the teachers and instructors?" the way he asked so innocently was really putting Shadis on edge, he didn't know why. He wanted to say no, but before he could...

"You did say a single person, not a trainee sir." Naruto stated innocently once more.

'Cheeky brat.' thought Shadis with a noticeable tick above his eye. "Yes when you put it that way it does." 'I'm going to regret this I know it.'

"Thank you for clearing that up sir!" Naruto said cheerfully before he started to chuckle evilly to himself while rubbing his hands together as he planned... things, yeah "things" out.

Most people decide it was in their best interest to suddenly be very nice to the second squad and Naruto especially until they choose someone. A little brown nosing never hurt anyone _that_ much.

"Alright, you are all dismissed. Tomorrow is conditioning again." stated Shadis as he began to walk away. Most were still in shock though.

"Awesome! Let's get some dinner! I can't wait for seconds!" Sasha's cry broke everyone from their thoughts as they headed to the mess hall.

Naruto grinned to himself as he walked with his squad, things weren't as bad as he thought it would be. The people his age were pretty fun to be around so far!

**XXX Omake XXX**

Its been a couple days since Naruto has started his training with the Scouting Legion at their HQ. Right now though he is taking a break for lunch.

"So Naruto, what can I get you to eat? We might be able to put in a requisition order if its within our budget." asked Petra

"Oh I could go for a couple large bowls of Ramen right now..." Naruto... salivated.

"Ramen?" questioned Petra with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah! Ramen can you make it two miso and two beef?" he nodded rapidly

"Um, Naruto..."

"Yeah?" Suddenly he felt a pit in his stomach, like something terrible was going to happen.

"I don't know what Ramen is."

CRRRRAAACCCCCKKKK

"What was that sound Petra?" Hanji had come in to investigate a strange sound she heard when she was passing the door in the hall.

"I don't know, what about you, Na- Naruto? What's wrong?"

Naruto was pale, his face was frozen in that of horror and sorrow.

Naruto's heart and stomach had broke.

A world without ramen was too much for his taste buds and brain to handle.

* * *

**Chapter End!**

**Hope you all liked it! Please Review and all that good stuff!**

**And as for taking a month to update... Sorry. You know what? Not really. My life has been pretty fucked up lately, and I had to deal with that first. A fucked up situation with my college and their change in policy, settling things with my new job after multiple interviews, helping my dad move to Jacksonville while I try to get people to buy his old place. Which I did all of these things SUCCESSFULLY! Suck it Life! You may be a Sexually Transmitted Disease that has a 100% fatality rate, but last month, I OWNED YOU! I have a job, I got my college issues settled and I am going to classes, and I got a family to buy the my dad's old house after he moved out! BOOM! **

**Now, this weekend I am gonna party my ass off in South Beach! I am getting no sleep this weekend! NONE! ... Except for Sunday... And maybe a couple naps... But still! I got some Awesome Plans with friends I have barely been able to see this past month, and I am gonna blow out!**

**...**

**SPOILER FOR LATEST ATTACK ON TITAN MANGA CHAPTER, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**...**

**Holy... Crap... The latest manga update was epic. Armin was awesome with his manipulating mind games, Erwin was all kinds of badass, just amazing, I mean I thought I liked him before, but now... My god, I think he is my new favorite character for the series. His epic speeches and actions while being "handicapped"... And then that cliffhanger at the end with _that_ Titan showing up in front of Eren and Mikasa... My God the anticipation is killing me! Why does it have to only update monthly?! ToT**

**Anyway, once again please review in that box below!**

**Peace,**

**Markus-Antonius**


	4. Back to the Grind

**Hey everyone I'm back!**

**Well now I know never to put up a poll for a pairing ever again. You live and you learn.**

**The poll by the way, the winner is:**

**Sasha **

**Remember this is Attack on Titan. The pairing development is gonna be slow, I am warning you so there won't be any complaints of "When will they hook-up?" Got it? Good. Now if you are disappointed, don't be sad, pairing isn't everything, and I hope you still enjoy my story anyway.**

**Speaking of which, let's get started and End this rant! For which I will apologize, but not mean it!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Attack on Titan. If I did, the manga for Attack on Titan would be released at least bi-monthly instead of monthly, that way I wouldn't have to wait a month for cliffhanger after agonizing cliffhanger for so long.

Chapter 3

Back to the Grind

"Oof!"

Naruto sighed as another opponent was dropped to the ground.

"Come on Franz, you can do better than this, I'm barely trying here!" Naruto whined as the tall teen named Franz wobbled around to get up.

"Not all of us are as good at hand to hand as you are Naruto..." Franz grumbled.

"Well, you got me there. Not everyone can be as awesome as me." Naruto boasted while attempting to be nonchalant about it. This of course got a couple sweatdrops from those who heard him.

"Well Franz, I'm gonna see if anyone else can fight. See ya!" Naruto waved as he tried to scope out the recruits in this hand to hand exercise. One person charged with a fake knife as a bandit, while the other defended and disarmed. Of course they instructed you on a technique of how to do so, but Naruto didn't really care. He was more of a brawler that thought on his feet mixed with Frog Kumite.

As he walked through the ranks, Naruto looked around he could see some people taking it seriously, and then there were people like Jean who was half asleep and Connie and Sasha who were doing weird poses and sounds as they... "fought". Then there was Annie. She was just walking around bored,not fighting anyone. That solves the mystery of his next partner.

"Hey Annie!" Naruto called as he walked toward her.

She barely turned her head to face him as he continued, "Let's spar, come on, you aren't fighting anyone right now."

"Why?" her face twisted into that of one of annoyance.

"Hmm? Why what?" Naruto questioned with a tilt of his head.

"Why do this exercise? There is no point."

"You never know when you need to fight unarmed." He settled into a loose stance and said, "Now come on I'll attack."

Annie sighed, but got into her own stance. She moved her right foot back a step and hunched her shoulders inward. She held her hands up in a guarding position in front if her face as well, it looked similar to a guarding boxing stance. Naruto analyzing the stance noticed it was very well balanced, if not basic. Then again, the basics are never bad, they are called the basics - the foundations - for a reason.

So he gripped the fake knife - though in his opinion it sucked: it wasn't aerodynamic, it was bulky, hard to throw, and there wasn't a ring in the hilt like the amazing and versatile kunai to string wire or rope through. He charged at an even pace to make it fair and went in for a thrusting stab.

Surprising Naruto Annie moved around his arm and caught it in a grappling lock, Naruto broke it however and went for a slash. Annie dodged and went for a low kick that Naruto jumped over.

"Nice job, I'm sure that would have really stung." Naruto complemented. She had really good technique.

"Can I go then?" she asked annoyed.

"Nope!" Naruto chirruped with a grin. "It ends if you can disarm me."

They both charged at each other at that. A thrust, a slash, a dodge and a grapple, counters and feints, the spar became a dance of blows to determine a winner. It became a chess match with both sides determined to outwit the other and bring them into a trap making it checkmate.

They broke off from the last entanglement and began to circle each other, ignoring the awed glance they would occasionally get.

Naruto finally said though, "Your technique is great, where did you learn it?"

"My father." she replied curtly.

"Your father is a great teacher then." Naruto commented

Annie grimaced slightly as a myriad of emotions flashed across her eyes. And just as quickly they left that Naruto almost missed it.

But he did see it, so he decided to end this since he knows he hit a rough spot, "Let's call this spar a draw Annie."

Annie broke her stance as Naruto did, but she then said, "This doesn't matter. There isn't any point in doing this. Martial Arts won't improve your score. The only ones allowed to join the Military police and live deep within the walls are those in the top ten. The only ones who take this seriously are people who do whatever they are told, and idiots like you."

She then walked right up to Naruto and got within inches of his face as she continued darkly, "For whatever reason, the better equipped to fight Titans you are, the farther you are assigned from them. Where do you think this farce begins?"

"Probably from those who have never seen a Titan and want to keep it that way by buying the Military off. Like the King." Naruto replied casually, noticing Annie's eyes widening slightly at his answer. 'What? I'm not that naive. Naruto thought to himself in annoyance.

"Isn't it because that is just how humans really are?"

"That is pretty damn cynical. Not everyone is like that. You can't hold everyone in the world to the same standard as those selfish pricks." Naruto stated with a frown.

Annie just decided to walk away, but she said, "Anyway, I'm not stupid enough to play soldier in this shitty world."

"Who said I'm playing around." Naruto replied causing her to pause in her exit. "I have already experienced what it is like to fight Titans. I'm not doing this for glory, prestige, revenge, or some selfish need to get into Sina. I'm doing this because someone has to. Someone has to go out there and fight Titans to make sure Humanity survives and innocents stay safe. So be cynical, be selfish, its alright. Because I'll be out there making sure you can do those things. But know this, if everyone thought like you did, we would all be dead. Because there wouldn't be anyone left to fight."

With that Naruto walked away himself not seeing or not caring for the looks he got from those who heard. They were contemplative, guilty, but mostly uncomfortable. Annie though was unreadable, but she was staring at his retreating form.

Naruto kept walking. He ignored Eren and Reiner going to challenge Annie, though he idly thought they would get there asses kicked.

He didn't want to spar anymore.

**XXX**

At the mess hall for dinner, was eating his meal silently still in a funk over his conversation with Annie. He was sitting at a table at Mikasa's right with Eren and Armin in front of them. He was broken from his silent thoughts when he overheard Jean trying to get Marco Bott to admit that he just wants to get in the Military Police because he wants an easy life deep within the walls.

"An easy life, deep inside the walls?" Eren suddenly repeated, "Until five years ago, this was considered deep inside the walls."

Jean looked and questioned in annoyance, "What's your point Eren?"

"You don't need to go to the Interior." he stated simply, "You've gone soft enough in your own head."

Jean's eye twitched in annoyance and anger. It twitched more when he heard the stifled chuckles from those who heard the conversation, "Bastard..."

"Don't you think its strange that we are training to fight Titans, just to end up farther from them?" Eren pressed.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, 'Annie must have ranted at him too.'

"Who cares?" Jean scoffed, "For my own sake, I hope they keep this stupid system."

Eren suddenly snarled angrily as he jumped to his feet, "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

Jean rose angrily and shouted back, "SHUT UP! THIS IS REALITY!"

Eren ignored Armin's plea for him to stop and grabbed the front of Jean's shirt ready to shout at him more, only for Mikasa to stand ans say calmly, "That's enough." She grabbed Eren's hand and brought it down to his side while still lightly holding it. Eren softened his gaze when he looked at her, then looked away guiltily.

Jean though snapped at the display and grabbed Eren's shirt yelling, "SCREW YOU BASTARD!"

Eren shouted in return, "STOP! MY CLOTHES WILL RIP!"

"WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR CLOTHES?! I'M SO ENVIOUS!"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

Naruto was pretty amused by this whole thing, but he did notice Eren sudden;y pause as Jean continued to rant at him and gain a look of surprise before it changed into one of determination.

Naruto's eyes widened though when he saw Eren use a rough imitation of Annie's grappling technique to trip and drop Jean flat roughly on his back. 'Yeah he definitely sparred against Annie.'

Jean sat up and rubbed his sore head while exclaiming, "What the hell was that?!"

Eren looked down at Jean and answered, "The Martial Arts I went through a world of hurt to learn while you were screwing around."

'And he got his ass kicked like I thought too.' Naruto commented in his head.

Eren continued though, "You think taking the easy way out, doing as you please, is reality? And you can call yourself a soldier?"

The entire mess hall was quiet at that as all eyes were on them. No one knew what to say.

The door opening got everyone's attention. The instructor, Keith Shadis was there halfway in with a face that rivaled Captain Yamamoto's face of doom as he asked gravely, "I heard quite a commotion. Would someone like to explain?"

Just as Naruto was gonna make a snarky comment on how everyone was arguing on what is the biggest reason for why he is just so awesome that it got too heated and descended into a brawl, with one side saying his dashing good looks, one saying his great personality and wit, while the other was his badass skills, Mikasa raised her hand and said in a stoic voice, "That sound was Sasha and Naruto's farts."

Sasha gasped in shock and betrayal while Naruto fell out of his seat in surprise that Mikasa of all people just pranked him.

Everyone began to struggle to hold in their laughter while Shadis said, "You two again?"

Sasha gasped again in horror.

"Learn to control yourselves." with that Shadis left the building.

"Mikasa~~~~~!" Sasha whined as she latched onto her, "Why would you do such a thing, I never did anything to you, was it something I said? I-" She was interrupted when Naruto stuffed a bread roll in her mouth. She turned to Naruto blushing slightly at the food and the gesture before she started chewing and tilted her head in confusion.

Naruto chuckled darkly at the unasked question making people look at him questionably. He said, "I did that because, you don't need to worry about this."

She finally swallowed the bread as everyone looked at him questionably, and Mikasa began to have a bad feeling, "Huh? Why not?"

"Because Mikasa seems to have forgotten that I am the only one that has not punished anyone with latrine duty from the reward!" Naruto answered with sadistic glee causing Mikasa to blanch in horror and Sasha to nod in understanding her mouth forming an "O" to boot.

"There is also that fact that I haven't gone to the toilet yet! Heheheheh, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto finished while laughing maniacally.

Everyone winced in sympathy at that. Mikasa wasn't looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe she should have said someone else or just Sasha?

**XXX**

It has finally arrived. The day of graduation. Two hundred and nineteen trainees managed to hold on.

"DEDICATE YOUR HEARTS!"

A resounding grunt of affirmation and the rustle and snap of clothes and boots snapping into place at once came to the instructor's ears as the graduates saluted in reply.

"Today you trainee graduates will be given three choices. You can join the Garrison Corps, protecting the towns and reinforcing the walls. Or the Scouting Legion, who risk their lives beyond the walls in Titan territory. Or the Military Police, who serve the King, lead the people, and protect internal order. Of course only the top ten trainees whose names were just announced can join the Military Police."

Ten Trainees stood in front of the others. Standing in a row in order of their rank:

1. Mikasa Ackerman

2. Reiner Braun

3. Naruto Uzumaki

4. Bertholdt Fubar

5. Annie Leonhart

6. Eren Yaeger

7. Jean Kirschstein

8. Marco Bott

9. Connie Springer

10. Sasha Blause

'I'm finally here.' Naruto thought, 'The year and a couple of months have past, and I'm finally going back to the Legion.' Naruto looked up to the sky with a determined grin, 'And back to kicking ass!'

**XXX**

The 104th Trainee Corps were currently celebrating in a building in Trost for their graduation. Drinks and food were passed around and everyone seemed happy.

"I did it!"

"I'm gonna join the Military Police!"

"We won't go hungry anymore!"

Of course not everyone was happy, "How did I score lower than Eren? Dammit!"

"You can't be serious? I understand Naruto not joining the Military Police since he has already been with the Scouting Legion with them finding him, so he wants to stay with them, but you too Eren?" questioned Thomas incredulously. Naruto turned to the conversation from where he was with Sasha and Connie when he heard his name.

"You put in all that work to make it into the Top Ten though." pointed out another trainee.

"I'd decided at the beginning. I wasn't training to go live in the Interior. I was training to fight them." Eren answered simply.

Thomas though looked at him in disbelief, before he exclaimed, "You'll never beat them!"

The party got quiet at that. Thomas looked around nervously, but pressed on to prove his point, "You do know how many tens of thousands have been eaten by them. We lost over 20 percent of our population, so we know for sure. Humans cannot defeat the Titans..."

"So?"

"Eh?"

"If you think we can't win, you'll just give up?" Eren pressed Thomas.

"Well-"

"Its true that humanity has suffered defeat until now. But we didn't know anything about the Titans then! Fighting them head-on is pointless. We did lose, but the information we gained gives us hope for next time! Will we abandon the tactics that cost tens of thousands of lives to develop, and let the Titans eat us without a fight?!"

"Hell no!" Eren exclaimed, his eyes filled with frustrated tears, "I am going to EXTERMINATE the Titans and escape these cramped walls! That is _my_ dream... Humanity isn't finished yet!" He paused as everyone was stunned by his rant. Suddenly he ran outside with Armin and Mikasa following after him.

Naruto watched them go before nodding to Sasha and Connie and following after them.

Outside he saw them sitting on the nearby stairs talking,

"Yeah, I got that from you." he heard Eren say, "To live outside the walls freely."

Armin suddenly declared, "I'm joining the Scouting Legion too!"

"Armin! Are you serious?! You got the best test score, you should use that!"

"I'm not going to hold you back." he replied looking determined.

"I'm joining the Scouting Legion too." Mikasa said softly.

"Oi, you're the top ranked person! Join the Military Police!" Eren exclaimed once more.

"... If you join the Military Police, then I'll do that. If you join the Garrison, then I'll join too. You'll send yourself to an early grave without me." Mikasa replied.

Eren sighed in exasperation, "No one asked you to do this..."

"I don't want to lose someone else..." Mikasa mumbled.

"You should respect their determination Eren."

Eren squawked in surprise with Armin and Mikasa turning in shock to face the new voice, "Naruto?!"

Naruto ignored him and continued, "Respect their decisions, be glad you have such loyal friends, or do you not believe in them? Is that why you are trying to hold them back, keep them safe?"

"What?! No! I believe in them!"

"Then act like it!" Naruto bit back. "You want to join the Scouting Legion, you want to kill all the Titans, you can't do that all by yourself!" Naruto exclaimed.

"The Scouting Legion relies on trust and teamwork, how can you be a part of them if you can't believe in your closest friends?" Eren was in shock as he got dressed down by Naruto, "No one can shoulder everything by themselves, we all need help sometimes. Your friends want to help you achieve your goal, don't be so prideful as to reject that. As much as individual strength is important, teamwork is even more so."

With that he left back to party,leaving a stunned Eren to contemplate his words with his closest friends.

**XXX**

The next day, Naruto and several of the Trainees were by the outside gate of Trost.

"They're here!"

"The main force of the Scouting Legion!"

"Commander Erwin! Kill the Titans for us!"

"Look it's Corporal Levi! They say he is as strong as an entire brigade!"

Naruto was the only one that heard Levi say, "Tch, shut up. So freaking annoying." causing him to laugh a bit.

"This is totally different than five years ago..." Eren commented with a smile, "There are so many people who have high hope for the Scouting Legion!"

"Everyone has cheered up! Nothing bad has happened in five years!" Hannah said happily.

"And they improved the fixed cannons." Franz added on, "Maybe the big Titans won't come again!"

"Right!"

"Are you serious?" questioned Naruto in disbelief.

Eren turned to the couple and exclaimed angrily, "You can't seriously believe that, you stupid lovebirds!"

Armin tried to calm him down sheepishly, but Franz and Hannah just blushed and became embarrassed.

"Y-you t-think we're a happy couple?" asked Hannah

Franz tried to shield himself from their gaze as he said, "You're getting ahead of yourself, Eren!"

As Eren shivered in comical anger, he heard a familiar voice, "Hey, you guys!"

"Hannes?" Eren looked to the man that saved his life five years ago.

"Its hard to believe you're the little brats I remember." He said with a nostalgic smile.

"What about you Hannes?" Eren said with a teasing tone, "You've gone from a drunk to a Captain of the Combat Engineers."

"Tch, listen to you." he said as he thumped him on the head, but he turned somber as he said, "I'm still sorry. I was unable to save your Mother."

Naruto knew this conversation was getting to personal so he left to go talk to the Scouting Legion before they left, but he did hear, "It wasn't your fault Hannes. We aren't ignorant anymore. I'll never let anything that sad happen again. We _will_ defeat the Titans."

Naruto just shook his head, Eren knew how to be dramatic and give speeches that's for sure. But he made his way out of the crowd and toward Erwin, Mike, Hanji, Levi and his squad were.

"Hey guys!" Naruto called out.

At first they were surprised at the sudden shout that sounded familiar, but then they remembered why and they all either smiled, stayed stoic, smirked, or scowled in anger in Auruo's case. Hey was still pissed about that prank before he left. Know though that the prank shall not be mentioned due to its graphic and scarring cruelty. Just know that he had to get a new horse because his old one kept leering at him. Oops.

"Naruto!/Naruto.../Sup./Brat./Grrrr." were the various replies.

"Hehe Hey Auruo, how's -" Naruto asked cheekily.

"Grrr, I'm gonna get you back brat, you won't know when or how, but know that I am after you!" he replied darkly to the reminder of the prank that hurt his body and his pride. It also made those that heard either shiver in horror or disgust, it wasn't known, or chuckle to themselves.

"I look forward to you trying!" he grinned predatorily before turning to the commander and asked, "Commander! You couldn't wait a day for me to get officially in before you went out on the expedition? I'm hurt!" Naruto cried in mock sorrow.

Erwin shook his head with a small smile before saying, "We had your graduation day marked wrong and we had already planned out this expedition." We couldn't hold it off just for you."

"Tch, now I gotta wait some more before I can display my awesomeness again." Naruto pouted earning some chuckles, he ended up joining them too before he turned somber,

"So... How bad have the casualties been?"

Erwin sighed as he stated, "They rose from after you left. Without your... skills, we were back to 30%percent within the next couple of expeditions."

"Yeah well things are gonna change. And with not just me coming too." Naruto stated with pure determination.

"What do you mean?" Hanji asked

"I know some of my graduating class are gonna join."

"Really?" Levi questioned skeptically, "The brats are usually to scared to join."

"Well there is this one trainee, Eren Yaeger, he's pretty dramatic sometimes saying he is gonna kill all the Titans," This got some raised eyebrows from the Legion members, "but he does got a lot of guts and he wants to join the Legion, it's been his dream along with being free outside the walls." Some of the members looked contemplative at that. "He's pretty good to, not the best, but he was ranked 6th. Anyway, look out for him, and let him join, I think he'll do great Commander."Naruto finished.

Erwin nodded before saying, "Noted, Eren Yaeger, well we got to get going Naruto, you should get to your post."

"Right, I'll see you guys!" he waved as they waved and bid him goodbye in return.

**XXX**

"Sasha... What are you doing?" Naruto looked in disbelief at what he was seeing it was hilarious really.

"Ano... Getting some meat from this officer's storehouse." she answered sheepishly.

Naruto couldn't help it, laughed before he took the meat from her hands and hid it in his jacket. "Come on, where were you gonna take it?"

"Um, my position cleaning the 34th cannon battery over the gate, what are you gonna do?" she asked nervously.

"Take for you so if you get caught you won't get in trouble, now come on." Naruto ushered ignoring her surprised look.

Eventually they made it to her squad as they were in the midst of saying they were joining the Scouting Legion to Eren who was surprised.

"Eren your dramatic speeches have an effect on people, you should use them wisely." Naruto said mock seriously causing a few to laugh but Eren to deadpan, "Why are you here Naruto?"

"I'm hurt Eren, and here me and Sasha thought to share this meat from the storehouse with you at lunch." he said in sadness with a conspiratorial grin holding up the meat. This of course caused Sasha to once again salivate at the sight of it.

The group gasped in unison.

"Do you guys want to go to jail?!"

"You guys really are idiots."

"An idiot duo."

"Idiots are scary."

"But everyone!" Sasha suddenly said, "We can slice it up and put it in sandwiches!" She began to shiver in delight at the thought of such a meal.

"Go put it back!"

"That's right!" Mina affirmed, "After all the land we lost, meat is really valuable!"

Naruto sighed as Sasha took the meat to hide it until lunch time and said, "It'll be fine. Such worrywarts..." he pouted.

"Yeah, once we retake the land, we can raise cows and sheep again." Sasha finished.

That got them to think it over. They suddenly became confident, and hungry,

"I'll have some too!"

"Y-yeah, start slicing it up!"

"I will also have some of course!"

Eren though just smiled, "You guys..."

Naruto pat him on the back with a smile as he said, "Let's get back to it, or they will find out yeah? I'll see you guys at lunch save some for me!"

"Got it Naruto!" Sasha waved as he went back to his post a couple cannons down.

"Come on Eren, it isn't lunchtime yet." said Mina teasingly.

Suddenly the sound of lightning strike with a flash of a yellowish green broke Naruto from his stride as a shadow suddenly loomed over him. He felt the air near him suddenly get very hot and he heard the subtle sound of something steaming. He turned around to see what it was only for his breath to hitch in his throat.

Standing there before them staring at them like they were nothing but annoyances was the Colossal Titan in all its 60 meter tall glory.

Just as Naruto heard someone gasp, steam burst out of nowhere forcefully pushing them all off the edge, Naruto couldn't even latch on with chakra in time. They all activated their 3DMG except for Samuel who continued to free fall.

Sasha recalled he hook and ran down the wall. With impressive accuracy, she was able to hook Samuel with the cable stabbing him with the hook in the process as she hung with one cable in the wall while the other held up Samuel. He would be wounded, but the alternative...

"Samuel! Are you alright!" Sasha called out.

"Geez that was close, nice one Sasha!" Naruto called out.

But something else caught the whole squad's attention, the looked down to the right to see that the wall's gate was destroyed with no hope for repair.

"The wall's been breached!"

"Not again! The Titans are gonna invade again!"

Suddenly Naruto heard Eren mutter, "Annihilate... all of you..."

Eren suddenly yelled, "Fixed Cannon Maintenance Team 4," he paused to draw out his swords, "PREPARE FOR COMBAT!"

Naruto scoffed to himself for freezing up before he too began to swing to the top with Eren who continued to yell, "Our target is the Colossal Titan before us! This is our chance! Don't let it get away!"

Naruto and Eren landed on top of the wall drawing the massive Titan's attention.

"Yo..." Naruto watched as Eren glared at the being that could crush him easily without a hint of fear, "It's been five years..."

'I knew he was dramatic.' Naruto thought.

"Hey, we haven't met, but my names Naruto. Just thought I'd give you the name of the guy that kills you. Common Courtesy and all that." Naruto shouted up to the Titan while walking toward it. He slowly drew his swords

"So, Pleased to make your acquaintance." he shouted once more before he launched into the air.

He swung right by its ear with amazing speed and said as he passed by it, ready to slice the neck that was around the corner,

"Please die for me."

* * *

**XXXOmakeXXX**

**(Inspired by my boredom and a commercial I just saw)**

Naruto was walking around a 3DMG dealership for parts and whole devices. They had the latest models and even used ones from places as far as Wall Sina in the capital to Trost. He didn't have enough money for a new one so he was planning on getting a used one.

Gotta save the money!

So as he continued to browse, one caught his eye. It was amazing and fashionable! It had orange! Instead of the normal metallic shine, it was painted orange! Incredible!

Naruto was already practically salivating at the thought of using such a 3DMG. He had to have it!

As he neared it, a 3DMG dealer saw his interest and grinned, he walked over with a fake smile and greeted, "Why hello there sir! I see you are interested in this fine used device!"

"Are you kidding?" Naruto stated in reverent awe, "I think this was meant to be! We were destined to be together! Fighting and slaying titans while looking awesome in orange too!" he replied passionately, causing sweatdrops to form on all that heard his speech of orange passion.

"R-right. Well! Look no further! This is quality made 3DMG from the factory in the capital overseen by the King himself!" the dealer paused as he heard several gasps from eavesdroppers. "Custom-made by a Commander of an entire Garrison unit until he sold it when he retired! So what do you say?" he finished with a smile thinking he had this sale in the bag.

"It's amazing!" Naruto exclaimed dramatically with anime tears flowing down his face in joy, "But," he suddenly stood up and was very serious as he continued, "Show me the Gear Fax."

The dealer went ghastly pale as he squeaked out, "W-w-what?"

Then a voice to his right said, "Show him the Gear Fax."

He looked to his left and he saw it was a toddler sized fox that was burnt orange but had red eyes and black fur around his eyes that extended to his large oddly rabbit like ears. It also had nine tails! It had a white shirt that said "Gear Fox".

Naruto merely nodded in agreement with the strange fox that appeared out of nowhere and said, "Yeah, show me the Gear Fax. I want to know that what I am paying for is worth it!"

"A-are y-you sure I can lower the price-" the dealer was interrupted by the damn fox once more as he said,

"It says that the Commander that owned it was careless in a battle and was drunk, he crashed into a building totalling his 3DMG before being eaten. He retired from life it seems." The fox snarked as he read the Gear Fax from a paper, before he continued, "It had to be rebuilt with parts from other devices to even work again."

Naruto began to stare at the dealer expectantly, causing him to sweat nervously.

"A-alright! 10% off!" he exclaimed.

Naruto and the strange fox began to stare at him blankly.

"25% off?" he squeaked out as more sweat began to form.

Naruto, the fox and now even the eavesdroppers began to stare.

"O-ok! 50% off!" he exclaimed desperately

"Hey Gear Fox, you said it was totaled?" questioned Naruto innocently.

"Yup, completely. 75% of it probably isn't its original part." The fox innocently replied

"OK! 75% OFF! PLEASE TAKE IT!" he yelled in shame and despair.

"Ok if you insist." Naruto shrugged.

Leaving behind a crying dealer in the 3DMG Dealership with the small amount of money, Naruto had his new orange 3DMG on his waist while he whistled a happy tune. On his shoulder was the same "Gear Fox" resting.

"I can't believe they fell for that! Right, Kurama?" Naruto chuckled.

"Heh, messing with Humans and leaving them a crying sniveling mess always was a fun pastime for me, we should do this more often." the fox named Kurama replied with an smirk way too dark to have good intentions.

"Well I wouldn't exactly have put it the way you did, but I am always up for a good prank!"

* * *

**Chapter End**

**SPOILER FOR SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN CHAPTER 50 been warned...**

**...**

**So another epic chapter comes and goes. It was depressing at first, but then Eren showed another reason why he is a badass and important to humanity. Mikasa also affirmed my points about her and Eren. But seriously? I'm sick of the cliffhangers and the fact I still don't anything about the wall! Yes they are awesomely frustrating and it proves how amazing the mangaka is to constantly keep me on my toes and addicted to his series, but why?! Why must I suffer for a month at a time...**

**...**

**Spoiler/Rant over**

**...**

**By the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NARUTO!**

**Anyway, review and all that good stuff and I hope you liked it!**

**Peace from Miami**

**Markus-Antonius**


	5. Battle for Trost: Why We Fight

**I'm back, dazed and confused.**

**I write three original chapters and I write one that is a little close to canon and people call me a bad writer that is lazy. I wrote that chapter that way because I wanted to move the story forward to the battle of Trost. Did you guys want me to make up another training session? I didn't like the last chapter either, but know that I planned on that being the last one like that. No more canon repeats, no more background Naruto. That was a one chapter thing to move the story.**

**People bashing my fic here in my reviews and in NeonZangetsu's I'm only Human comparing my story to his. If you are gonna bash me, review with a pen name or pm me so I can actually talk back to you. ****NeonZangetsu is even like what the hell?**

**It's not constructive criticism if you are insulting me. Otherwise I don't get anything from it.**

**Anyway let's get to it.**

**Disclaimer: **I don't any of these franchises, the fact that I'm on fanfiction should make this self-explanatory.

Chapter 4

Battle for Trost: Why We Fight

_"Please die for me."_

It was time.

He could end one of the biggest threats right now.

The nape of the neck is right around the face.

Naruto though suddenly felt the enormous monstrosity tense. He didn't care, it was too late, he was already rearing back his swords to slice it open. Naruto in the back of his mind noticed that despite traveling through the already hot steaming air, it was getting hotter.

It was then that steam was pushed out of the Colossal Titan, massive amounts of steam that pushed Naruto away from his target.

Naruto was sent flying from the blast of steam that nearly scalded him, he was forced to use his 3DMG to right himself in the air. He managed to hook his cable in one of the arms. The arm he hooked onto though was reared back and brought forward. The massive Titan brought his massive arm down on the top of the wall and with its incredible strength, it scraped all of the fixed cannons off the wall in proximity to the gate.

But since Naruto was hooked onto the arm he went along for the ride.

"Fuck!" Naruto cursed as he looked at the wall he was on a course to go splat against.

Naruto unhooked his cable from the arm and launched a second cable at the Colossal Titan's torso.

Naruto grunted as he experienced major whiplash, but suddenly he lost his anchor.

The Colossal Titan had disappeared.

Leaving Naruto free falling.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" Naruto cursed once more as he fell, he was flipping and turning in the air throwing off his depth perception, that along with his whiplash, made hooking onto the wall a difficulty.

"Naruto!" Naruto heard a voice call.

Two grunts were heard, one from Naruto and the other from his savior who collided with him in an effort to save him.

"I got you man! Come on!" Eren shouted out.

Naruto got his focus back and was able to get his cable to fire accurately to his target at the top of the wall.

Once Naruto and Eren reached the top they looked at the spot where the Colossal Titan disappeared. How could something so big appear and disappear in a moments notice? It's not like they imagined it, because all this damage was real, those enormous pillar like feet left some impressionable footprints

"Naruto! Eren! Did you guys kill it?" called Thomas.

"No, it disappeared." answered a bewildered Naruto.

"Yeah, sorry..." Eren apologized. If only he was quicker, but that Titan was definitely sentient. He saw it widen its eyes from Naruto's speed, it looked desperate for a second, and then there was the fact it went for specific targets like the cannons and the gate. If Titans start to fight smart...

"Hey! This isn't the time to talk!" Connie shouted at everyone, "The wall has been breached, if we don't patch it fast, the Titans _will_ get in like last time!"

Naruto was really wishing he had an earth affinity right now, he could have at least made a temporary wall.

"What are you all doing?!" They all heard. When they turned to see who it was, they saw it was a Garrison member, "The contingency plan has already begun for the Colossal Titan. Get to HQ. Anyone who made contact with it, don't forget to report!"

Naruto wasn't really listening at this point, he still couldn't understand how it could disappear like that. Why couldn't any of the Titans do that until now? And if they were around, why wait until five years ago to attack? They had a hundred years to do this kind of damage and Humanity didn't have half of the technology and fighting tactics they did now. They could have killed off humanity long ago, why wait until now?

"Oi, Naruto! Let's go!"

Naruto shook his head of the thoughts and followed his fellow Trainees to HQ. Another thing that bothered him was how the Scouting Legion was gone on an expedition. The invasion could be held off if they stayed, especially with someone like Levi around. Then Naruto's eyes widened. It might be a coincidence, but could they have timed the invasion with their departure? If its true, they might have bigger problems on their hands.

**XXX**

At the Military HQ in Trost, an Officer was yelling for the Trainees to get ready while trying to encourage them. The Trainees were scrambling all around HQ to gather their supplies, there was nothing organized about this.

Naruto was by himself calmly filling up his gas tanks, but on the inside he was nervous. He knew the Titans were gonna breach the walls. That hole in the gate was just too big for a quick fix.

Regardless, he prepared himself. He decided he would use chakra to enhance his movement, strength, and speed in this fight. They would just think he is using more gas than normal. Kinda like Levi and his blinding speed. Sage mode could be used if he is in a pinch. But other uses of jutsu probably wouldn't be a good idea. Everyone is scared right now with emotions running high. Erwin would tell him to not use his flashy jutsu. They would attract unwanted attention and the people would overreact.

After all the Trainees in the 104th Corps got their supplies, they lined up in the square of HQ. There, a very nervous and scared Captain spoke to them.

"Just follow your training! Split into groups! Under the Garrison's orders, you will resupply combatants, receive orders, and kill Titans!" the captain yelled. He had brown hair and a brown beard, but he was nervously sweating and he had a scared look in his eyes. The officers behind him were looking everywhere but at the Trainees.

"Garrison intercept forces will form the vanguard!" he continued to yell. "Trainees, led by the Supply Team, will form the middle guard! The Garrison's elite forces will form the rearguard! Also messengers have reported... the advance team has been neutralized! The outer gate has been compromised and the Titans have entered the city."

"In other words, the Armored Titan may appear at anytime to destroy the inner gate." he paused letting it sink in.

Murmurs of disbelief flowed around the crowd as many trainees began to get frightened. 'I knew it. This is gonna be a shitstorm soon. Who knows how many have died already.' Naruto thought while clenching his fists in frustration.

"Silence! As we speak the vanguard is engaging them! We have but one objective in this fight, to defend Wall Rose with our lives until the evacuation is complete! Now, as you are all aware, desertion in the face of the enemy is punishable by death! Mark this well, and fight to your deaths! Dismissed!" he finally finished. In return he got a resounding salute from the now nervous trainees.

With that the Trainees rushed to get ready to move out. They were told their teams and their position, some like Mikasa were moved to the rearguard, while most were moved to the middle guard. However, some like Naruto, were somewhere else. And it pissed him off.

He was placed to guard HQ and the Supply Team.

It thoroughly pissed him off. He wanted to be out there with his comrades bleeding and fighting. Hell escorting civilians would be preferable. Here he is just stagnant, waiting. It sucked. He was an assault in your face front-line fighter, not a glorified gatekeeper to the HQ.

He couldn't even run supplies. The fucking captain was very insisting someone be here to protect the HQ. And who better than the top third of his class and sponsor of the Scouting Legion? Maybe the people who were already tasked with the job?

So Naruto stood in the center of the plaza while everyone ran to their positions with his arms crossed, glaring at the ominous rising smoke in the direction of the outer gate.

"Trainee Uzumaki."

Naruto turned to the Captain that gave the speech who called for him, "Yes, Captain?"

"You will be posted on the roof of the North entrance to the HQ, you will protect that entrance with your life. Go and wait for further orders."

"Sir, permission to speak?" Naruto gritted out.

"Granted." the Captain spoke curtly.

"Why aren't I out in the middle guard, or given a squad for this assignment?" Naruto barely managed to hide his frustration.

"We need people with your skill to protect the supply team, and we are already spread thin with the vanguard nearly wiped out. You will have to make do. Dismissed." With that the Captain left to the storage room.

"Fucking stupid ass." Naruto cursed under his breath. But he went to his position anyway.

It only made him angrier.

The smoke plumes doubled. He could make out several silhouettes that he knew were Titans moving around. So he sat on the roof of HQ over the North Entrance watching the battle from afar. Cross-legged and arms crossed, Naruto scowled as he observed what he knew was carnage. Naruto bet if he was Kiba, he could smell the blood and hear the screams. And that made him feel useless.

The Scouting Legion always made sure he was at the front of everything, but they knew about his abilities and were okay with them. These people didn't know about them and would most likely throw a fit and try to kill him and study his body. According to Erwin.

An ominous feeling came over Naruto as the clouds began to form into storm clouds. Rain began to fall drenching Naruto as he sat glaring at the battle before him.

He didn't like it. Shinobi are pretty superstitious. Well Naruto is.

This didn't feel like cleansing rain.

It felt like pure sorrow.

It felt like hot rage.

It felt like a death march as the rain beats like the drum steadily beats till your death.

This was the beginning of an execution.

**XXX**

Two hours have passed since the Colossal Titan broke down the gate and disappeared. The bell sounding for the retreat indicating that all civilians have been evacuated has rung.

Naruto decided it was time to HQ to receive new orders. Not a single Titan has approached the HQ.

As he entered the HQ he walked in on a disturbing conversation.

"-won't be able to hold the supply room alone!" he heard a trainee most likely say.

"Please Captain! Stay!" cried another.

"Move out of the way." Naruto heard the Captain say as he began to walk faster to the door to open it, "I must organize the reinforcement squads."

At that moment Naruto opened the door, breaking the high tension.

"Where are you going Captain? We need to defend HQ so the remaining troops can get their gas and retreat." Naruto asked with a light glare.

Another trainee asked, "Are you going to the Inner gate, where it is safe?"

The Captain looked shocked, almost as if he were caught red-handed, before he began to raise his voice, "W-what are you saying?!" This is procedure! It is our duty as soldiers to follow procedure!"

"No."

The captain and all the soldiers in the room turned to Naruto shocked. But he just stood their openly glaring at the Captain.

"Another word and I'll be forced to punish you and deem you traitor right here!" the captain yelled as he drew a sword.

"Captain, what was it that you said, 'Desertion in the face of the enemy is punishable by death'? What are you doing now _Captain_?" Naruto stepped forward regardless of the pressing of the Captain's trembling sword against his chest to glare further at the Captain.

"You said it is our duty to follow procedure, well the current procedure is to protect the supply team to resupply the vanguard so they can retreat, instead of being isolated on the buildings like they are a meal served on a plate!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto then glared and said darkly, "Or are you willing to abandon hundreds of men and women because you are a coward?"

"S-SILENCE!" The Captain yelled hysterically causing every soldier but Naruto to wince.

"I was told these words long ago _Captain_: Those who abandon the rules are trash, this is true;" Here he began to walk past the sword and the Captain and head toward the supply area, "But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

Naruto grabbed four bags and filled them with fresh air tanks and some blades. He walked back over to the supply team and handed each of them a bag.

He turned to face the stunned Captain whose face was frozen in anger and nervousness and said, "I may be trash to someone like you, but I'm perfectly fine with being trash in a cowards eyes, who is less than trash."

Naruto opened the door and drew his swords, "I'm not gonna abandon my comrades. I'm gonna do my job. Because someone has to. And that obviously isn't you."

"You four go run those supplies, you four guard them." Naruto ordered firmly.

"B-but the Titans..." muttered a member of the supply team.

Naruto turned around to face the group. The captain was still staring in shock at the wall in front of him. "I know you are scared, but think of your comrades out there that have been fighting, they are just as scared as you are, but they need the tools to fight. You need to help them, you do that, and you help yourselves, since they will go back to killing Titans."

"I will protect HQ to make sure no Titans enter and to keep the window open for you all to run supplies, now go!"

"H-hai!" came a resounding call and surprising salute from the trainees. The Garrison members just nodded in respect and decided to follow his orders. It may not be the safe way, but with the way he put it, they wouldn't be able to live with themselves if they followed the Captain.

Once they left, Naruto turned to the shell-shocked Captain. His sword was still drawn, but trembling from his verbal lashing. "Go ahead, sir." Naruto motioned for the door.

"E-eh?" the Captain softly questioned in confusion.

"Go 'organize the reinforcement squads'. But let me leave you with something I told someone else, it's ok. Be selfish, be cynical, be cowardly, make excuses, leave others behind, run away. It's alright." Naruto said as he placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder who flinched.

"Because I'll be out there fighting so that you can do those things." Naruto left the Captain wide-eyed and went outside.

The rain was still falling and it still felt like the prelude to an execution. But he kept walking. He saw the eight soldiers waiting by the main entrance for him.

He nodded to them and said, "Alright, I'm gonna go out and scope things out. If there are any Titans I'll draw their attention so you can run those supplies, got it?" when he received nods in return, he nodded back and took a deep breath. He steeled himself and swung open the door.

Naruto launched himself to the nearby rooftop and looked around. A couple blocks away to the Northeast, Eight Titans over 10 meters were walking toward HQ. Several smaller ones were likely with them as well. He went back to the door with the Supply team and guard and said

"Alright head toward the vanguard in a northwest direction, there are Titans coming from the northeast, I'll distract them. After I leave count to twenty and head out. Don't stop until you reach those who need supplies!" Naruto yelled at the end as he ran out.

Landing on a rooftop, he enhanced his movement with chakra. Sending it to his feet, in bursts launching himself at high speeds. In seconds he was on a 13 meter Titan, with a jump and a burst of chakra, he collided with his feet on its forehead to brace himself and his swords in its eyes.

Keeping the chakra flowing he ran around the thrashing in pain Titan's head to the neck and ended it with a slice to the neck.

He jumped off the falling Titan to the next 9 meter that was ambling toward him. Little more than a blur to most eyes, Naruto used his 3DMG to launch a cable to the street. It pulled him toward the ground under a swatting stubby hand, he rolled when he met ground under its legs and jumped straight up to the neck with a chakra enhanced leap to slice it open.

Naruto in the air pulled himself to a rooftop with his gear and saw the supply team begin to move to the vanguard.

'Good, there they go. Now, to make sure I have their attention...' Naruto thought as he looked back at the Titans.

Naruto jumped off the roof and used his gear to swing around the Titans gracefully. He would tease them by going just out of their reach constantly. He ended up herding them into the plaza outside the HQ. They numbered around 13. Seven 3 to 4 meter class, 6 or so above 8 meters.

Naruto landed on the roof of HQ and created a clone who ran to the top of the tower. The clone got in a lotus position and began to meditate to gather Natural energy. Naruto himself did the same thing. After a few seconds, orange shading formed around his eyes. When he opened them, the yellow horizontal eyes of a toad were in place of his normal blue.

As the rain finally began to let up, he stood up and ran off the roof to fight the horde in front of him.

"COME GET SOME!" he yelled with a determined grin.

**XXX**

Things weren't looking good for the vanguard and the middle guard.

They accomplished their goals somewhat. They held off the Titans long enough for the civilians to be evacuated, but it felt hollow.

Many veterans were killed leaving the main force mostly trainees. Everyone else died or made it to the walls. But many were stranded on buildings in fear of using up all their gas. Some were trying to form a plan to get to HQ, it seemed impossible, they could see Titans walking over to HQ. There were a lot. Too many.

Then they found out about team 34.

All of them including the sixth ranked Eren were killed except for Armin - who was too devastated to do anything.

If they weren't discouraged before...

Mikasa who had just heard the news stood up slowly and began to walk away.

"Marco, if we eliminate the Titans swarming HQ, then we can refuel and climb the walls. Isn't that right?" she questioned in a dead voice.

"Y-yeah that's right... but even with you here there are too many..." he answered.

"Oi... What is that?" pointed a trainee getting everyone's attention.

Coming toward them was a group of six. Four trainees, two Garrison soldiers. And they were carrying bags.

"Isn't that some of the members of the supply team?"

"Oh my God..."

"Finally!"

The group landed looking exhausted from the sprint as one of them panted out, "Got... some... gas tanks... share them..." They didn't stop, two of the Garrison Members sacrificed themselves to make sure they could continue.

They distributed it as evenly as they could. But they did decide the best fighters should get the new tanks first. Each bag carried 10 tanks and two big ones to transfer gas. With that everyone was able to at least get some gas. However, it was about only enough to fill everyone's to a quarter.

Jean though asked, "So what took you guys so long?"

The group looked away from the curious and accusing stares as they tried to answer, "Well we were afraid... And we were left on our own with no guards. The Captain ordered everyone to leave HQ and head up the walls." Here a lot of trainees cursed the captain.

"But Uzumaki confronted the captain and convinced us to run the supplies." one trainee said with a smile. This shocked some, talking back and defying an officer? Holy shit, the balls on this guy.

Sasha then remembered, "Oh yeah, Naruto was assigned to guard HQ... Wait a minute where is he?" she started to panic. Naruto was a cool guy, a good fighter, and a friend. She hoped he was alright. The sentiment was shared by many of the trainees.

One of the Garrison guards answered, "He is at HQ fighting the Titans." he had to pause at the numerous gasps and murmurs. "Before we left he scouted things out and warned us of the numerous Titans heading toward HQ so he told us he would distract them while we ran the supplies to you all."

"Holy crap!"

"Damn..."

"What are we waiting for we gotta go!"

"He's fighting them by himself, he has got to be dead already."

"Yeah, no one can last this long."

"HQ has to be swarmed with them by now."

"What's the point we got gas we should just leave."

Mikasa had heard enough, she decided to start heading out, but before she left she said, "We have to go. If you don't fight you die... I... am disappointed in all of you... You are all spineless cowards."

This left everyone speechless. The top person in the graduating class, supposed to be the best in who knows how many years, had called them cowards, that she was disappointed in them.

Jean muttered, "What's disappointing here is your vocabulary... Was this supposed to be an inspirational speech? This is your fault, Eren, Naruto..."

He took a deep breath and yelled out, "Hey! Were we trained to let our comrades fight alone? Do you really want to be cowards?!" with that he and Connie followed after Mikasa. The supply team and the Garrison guards followed after him as well.

Reiner muttered, "I wouldn't want that..." His team followed after them next.

Sasha began to shout to the rest, "Come on coward... Wimp... Idiot!" she launched off after with the rest of the group following her.

**XXX**

"AHHH!" Naruto yelled in pain.

He had faltered for a moment when he lost his sage mode and it cost him. one of the Titans swatted him, sending him into a building through a window and crashing onto a table. Glass shards and large splinters were penetrating him in several places along his back and arms.

"Haa... Damn it..." Naruto cursed as he felt the clone disperse getting him back into Sage mode, relieving his pain a bit. He staggered to his feet and pulled out as many pieces as he could. The Titan that swatted him tried to reach for him, but with the enhanced strength of Sage mode back, he forced himself through the pain and slid under the large hand. The Titan turned around and bent down to reach him once more.

With the strength of the Toad Sage, Naruto grabbed the hand by the fingers and flipped the 9 meter class over his shoulder and onto its back hard.

It twitched and tried to get up, but Naruto was there at the neck to end it with a deep slash.

Naruto took note of his surroundings. The Titans started to crawl around the building in an effort to get in. Some of the smaller ones broke down the main entrance. while he was dealing with the larger ones. There were only three big ones left, but Naruto was sure more were on the way.

Naruto snuck into the steam that was coming off the numerous Titan corpses from his kills. He moved with the steam to sneak into HQ and clear it of the smaller ones. Sure the ones outside will be a problem, but the ones inside in an enclosed space. That is more difficult.

But not for Naruto. The Supply Room is dark with high ceilings, perfect for shinobi.

The Kyuubi was working on his wounds and replacing the blood he lost, but for some reason he works slower in Sage mode. Maybe he doesn't like Natural Energy? He did reject the Old Toad Sage Fukasaku.

Just as he was nearing the front entrance he heard the unmistakable sound of the 3DMG.

Were they back already?

He watched as a lot of soldiers, indecipherable due to their sudden appearance and speed crash into the windows of the third floor.

"Holy Shit that took some guts." Naruto muttered. He turned around to the sound of thudding stomps, three Titans were coming. Two near the side of the third floor where they came in and one near the windows they entered.

"Shit! I gotta make it in time." He still had several shards including a 6 inch piece lodged in his thigh, but he pressed on. He went for the one near the windows, it was a newly arrived Titan.

"Take this!" with the gas on full throttle and an unconscious use of his wind element, Naruto nearly decapitated the 11 meter Titan. He pushed off the head to get an angle at the other two who had just smashed a hole in the wall with their heads.

"Damn it, if they reach in the hole they can grab them!" Naruto said out loud to himself. He was about to launch his cables when it happened.

A Titan over 15 meters tall with long shaggy brown hair, elf-like ears, strange jaws, and green eyes, gave a haymaker that struck both of the Titans that were next to each other, across the head and way down the street.

"Holy Crap, now that is a punch!" Naruto shouted. He heard the sound of 3DMG and saw that Mikasa, Armin and Connie had just entered through the window as well.

He let Sage mode fade and well he had enough of crashing through windows, so he swung into the large hole that was created.

"Naruto! You're alive!" cried Connie

Everyone else seemed just as shocked at that fact as well. Then again he didn't look too good. He had several gashes, tears, and bloodstains on his clothes from his crash.

"Yeah, fighting against over 15 or more Titans if those new ones mean anything is pretty tough." he stated tiredly.

"Fifteen..."

"... Or more"

"Damn..."

"How many did you get?" asked Reiner

"Well except for those two that big guy punched, all those smoking corpses was my work." he replied absently before he said, "More importantly, the hell is up with that Titan?!"

It was Connie that spoke excitedly, "Oh, guys! That is a Deviant that fights other Titans!"

"What?"

"A Titan that fights other Titans?"

"That sounds like a dream-" Jean was interrupted by Mikasa

"It isn't a dream. We need to keep it out here to keep fighting those outside. I don't care if it's a Deviant or not, this is our best chance for survival." she finished amongst the rumbling and roars that occurred outside.

Naruto suddenly remembered something, "Hey guys, I'll be right back." without waiting for a reply Naruto left down the stairs leaving everyone bewildered.

"Uh... Ok?" stated Connie with a scratch of his head.

**XXX**

"Damn, I forgot about those smaller Titans, I got to get them out of the supply room. I hope there wasn't anyone left in there." Naruto muttered to himself.

As he neared the floor to the supply room he heard the loud footsteps of the numerous Titans wandering about the dark room.

Sticking to the shadows, he ran up to the support beams. He ran silently across the beams until he was above a Titan. He waited until none were looking his direction and dropped down to the back of the neck. With a slash it was dead. He quickly jumped back to the beams and into the shadows. All the Titans turned to the noise of their fallen fellow Titan in what seemed like confusion.

They all began to walk toward it to investigate. Naruto then dropped down and killed the one that was in the back of the group and jumped back before they could see him.

From then it was the same thing over and over until there was one left. Naruto was walking into position when suddenly it looked up at him. Naruto widened his eyes in shock as it suddenly jumped up and tried to grab him. Naruto jumped away from the hand, but even though it didn't grab him it did hit him. The blow sent him rolling to the ground losing his swords.

The last Titan in the room ran toward him with an open mouth and pounced at his position. Naruto forced himself away but felt several shards and splinters dig into his flesh. The six inch glass shard wound in his thigh was throbbing in pain. The fall aggravated all his wounds.

Wearily he stood as the Titan got to its feet as well. They faced each other and stared at each other. At an unheard signal they both charged. Naruto pulled out a kunai from his sleeves in each hand and ducked under the large arm that swung at him. He kept moving under the legs and slashed both Achilles tendons. The Titan fell on its face as its legs gave out.

Naruto ran up the fallen Titan's back and stabbed both kunai down in a hammer strike to the nape of the neck. He held them there for a few seconds before slicing open the neck.

Naruto stood on the decaying Titan catching his breath.

He walked off, put his kunai away, and sat down by the large gas tanks. Leaning against them, he finally got to work on pulling out the shards as he heard the sound of an elevator.

"Oi! You guys were seriously gonna come down through the elevator?!" Naruto shouted. He could he some gasps and shocked sounds along with what seemed to be a sheepish groan.

"Naruto! You were down here?!" he heard Jean yell. Him and six others came down the stairs to see seven decaying Titans and Naruto leaning against the tanks they have been trying to get to, pulling objects out of the gashes on his body.

"Where did you think I went? To take a piss?" he deadpanned earning sweatdrops.

Those in the elevator were shocked as well. Particularly Armin. He was about to ask how he did it, but then he saw him attempt to pull a large shard of glass out of his thigh. Maybe the questions can wait until after they get their gas.

**XXX**

Conversations were upbeat in the the supply room. Gas tanks were filled, blades were replaced, and morale was restored. Naruto had already replaced his blades and filled his tanks, but he was just now finishing up with the removal of the shards and splinters - at least the large ones. Tweezers would be needed for the rest.

"Hey I've been meaning to ask, where is Eren? I haven't seen him. Isn't he here?" questioned Naruto, missing several people stiffen, including Mikasa and Armin.

No one answered him, but them looking away uncomfortably said enough. "I see..." Naruto just turned to walk away. He didn't really know what to believe, because he knows for a split second before that Titan Killer punched those two from the hole, he felt Eren's signature. He was pretty distracted in his fight and he let it fade away soon after, but he knows that he felt Eren. Eren is alive. He just doesn't where exactly. It could be somewhere... unpleasant. Hopefully he isn't inside a stomach.

Now though after ten minutes of refueling, a few went outside.

Armin, Mikasa, Naruto, Jean, Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt decided to check on the Titan that fought the others.

What they found was shocking, multiple Titans were feeding on it.

"Are you serious? They... are tearing it apart." commented Naruto. His wounds have all but disappeared now, but he kept on the bandages for appearance.

"I had hoped we could learn something from it, but now..." Mikasa drifted off.

"We should kill the other Titans clinging to it." suggested Reiner, "It helped us out, it could keep fighting for us."

"Are you serious? We should leave over the inner wall while we can!" exclaimed Jean.

"It could be better than any cannon if we use it though." pointed out Annie.

"You got a point there. I mean did you see how hard it punches?" Naruto agreed in amazement.

Then a lanky 16 meter Deviant appeared, Armin pointed out almost fearfully, "T-that's the Deviant that ate Thomas!"

Suddenly the Titan killer, roared. Despite having several Titans hang off it, it charged. Without any arms, it charged at the Deviant and bit down hard on its neck. Then it used it like a bat to swing at the nearby Titans crushing several. When another large Titan came walking over, with its jaw strength alone, it threw the Deviant detaching its head in the process and crashed its body into the walking Titan into a building down the street.

Finishing its battle with no more Titans in sight, it gave off a loud roar of defiance.

Jean then said nervously, "Look it doesn't need help." and as if it heard him it collapsed on it's face. "I guess it finally exhausted itself. We should get going, a Titan is still a Titan."

"Jean..." whispered Naruto.

"What, what is it?" he asked, but Naruto just pointed.

As the Titan killer's body began to decay, a spot in the nape of the neck decayed faster. There was also a body in that spot as the steam cleared, the person seemed to mechanically sit up on his knees, but his eyes were closed from being unconscious. Mkasa gasped in shock, joy, too many emotions to tell. She immediately launched herself down with her gear.

She climbed onto the steaming corpse to where the person was and hugged him before he fell. Naruto watched as she suddenly began to tremble, until the tears and sobs came flowing down. Mikasa was overjoyed, Naruto could understand why.

Eren wasn't dead.

He was just inside of the Titan Killer. That is why he felt him in Sage mode, he was right across from him.

Naruto helped Mikasa carry Eren up to the roof of HQ tower where she continued to cry, to hold onto him fearing he would disappear. He stood off to the side with the others as they watched in disbelief trying to comprehend what happened.

"Does this mean... that Eren did all of this? That he was the Titan?" Naruto asked to no one as he looked upon the the corpses of over twenty Titans.

He wasn't the only one with a secret power now.

The only problem is... What do they do now?

* * *

**Chapter End.**

**No omake. I'm not in a good enough mood for one. I'm tired from work, and the bashing I'm getting, but I'm gonna keep writing. **

**Yeah, I'm not a great writer on par with people like Kenchi618, Kur0kichi, TheEngulfingSilence, kyokasuigetsutotsuka, or even NeonZangetsu. I'm not a good romance writer. Was I comfortable doing Mikasa? No. And I am not talented enough in romance to do a pairing like the hollywood-like enemy lovers pairing of Naruto/Annie. Would that be fun to read? Hell yeah. Just don't expect it from me anytime soon.**

**I started writing fanfiction a couple months ago. I'm learning. No one starts off perfect.**

**Anyway review and all that. **

**Peace from Miami on my bed**

**Markus-Antonius**


	6. Author

**Yes, you should have noticed that I haven't updated. I have just edited the chapters. Particularly the Author's notes. They have gotten me into trouble. That is what happens when you type them when you're either half-drunk coming late from a party, hungover the next morning, or half-asleep, or just mad the whole day, bleeding the anger into the AN. I usually type out my stories when I have the chance so it's during the day and I'm lucid. But I post it whenever I get the chance and place my Author's notes then. Which is usually at the worst possible time. Explaining my constant rants in the ANs. **

**I'm sorry if I offended anyone, at any point. I really am sorry. I'm not gonna rant like that again, or lash out like that again. **

**So I edited them of the insulting or offending things I wrote.**

**Once again I apologize, not cool of me. I hope to do better for you all.**

**Markus-Antonius**

**(edits done 10/19/2013 for the prologue, chapters 1-4)**


	7. Trost: When Push Comes to Shove

**Hey everyone, got another one for you all!**

**I'm glad so many of you are enjoying my story. And once again, I apologize to those I may have offended in my previous Author's notes. **

**But I'm in a good mood! I saved enough money a month ago to pre-order Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed 4 - I should be getting Batman soon in the mail since it came out friday, and Assassin's Creed 4 this week! I got a freakin 115% on my latest test in college, and I got my pay check! Woohoo!**

**Anyway let's get to it!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of these franchises. If I did, the anime for Attack on Titan wouldn't have ended so early and on a different crappy note compared to how the manga portrayed that moment.

Chapter 5

Battle for Trost: When Push Comes to Shove

For Naruto tension is nothing new.

He has been experiencing it for most of his life. It comes with the trade of being a shinobi.

That didn't mean that the situation he found himself was comfortable. No it was extremely uncomfortable, with everyone staring at his back. Well it wasn't really him, but who was on his back.

He was carrying Eren on his back since he was still unconscious from his... exit from the Titan killer's neck. Mikasa and Armin were staring at him worriedly, while everyone else that witnessed the event were staring apprehensively.

They were on the inner wall of Wall Rose and preparing to take the elevator down the wall. What made it really uncomfortable was the silence. No one was willing to comment on what they had just seen. So deciding to try and break the tension, Naruto acted.

By whistling a tune.

Let it be known Naruto was never known for his tact.

His whistling gradually faded out to a stop as he began to sweat under the incredulous looks he was getting.

"What? It was getting really awkward with the silence!" he defended.

"Eren comes out of a Titan alive and was probably controlling it or could turn into it at anytime and you just whistle?!" yelled Jean.

Naruto pouted and looked to the side while muttering, "At least I broke the silence..."

Soon enough, the elevator stopped and they moved off it and onto the safety of the ground outside of Trost. Only for them to turn around to see that they were surrounded by dozens of soldiers with swords drawn.

Naruto noted in annoyance that Captain "Coward" Verman was at the center of the formation with a terrified look on his face.

"Trainees! Leave Eren Yaeger here while you go to your posts! You are refrained from repeating the events that you have witnessed under threat of treason! Dismissed!" he yelled while his voice wavered in fear.

The Trainees looked conflicted for a moment, but eventually decided to leave. The soldiers parted way for them warily, but then they noticed not all of the trainees left.

Naruto still had Eren on his back nearly snarling at the Captain, Armin was trying to wake Eren up, and Mikasa was beginning to draw her swords.

"Trainees! Why have you not followed my orders?! We will execute you! Along with that monster!" Verman shouted hysterically.

"Fuck you! You piece of cowardly shit!" Naruto shouted back - no one noticed that his pupils shifted into slits and his canines elongated. "You abandoned your post! You left the supply team to die! You should be executed for deserting your post!"

"Shut up!" Verman yelled while glancing to the numerous soldiers that were muttering amongst themselves and looking in his direction with suspicion.

It was then that Naruto began to hear something, it was low at first, but it grew louder until he could hear it clearly: "I'll kill them all..."

Naruto turned to the voice and was surprised to see that Eren was... smiling. Disturbingly he kept muttering, "Every last one... I'll kill all of them... More... More..."

Everyone was silent, staring in shock.

Eren's eyes were open, but you could tell he wasn't conscious. The smile though, was still there.

Armin with his eyes wide in disbelief, hesitantly prodded, "E-Eren?"

Everyone watched as slowly he lifted his head off of Naruto's shoulder. Life seemed to return to his eyes as he lost the smile. He nearly fell off Naruto's back when he gasped in shock. He clearly didn't know where he was or how he got there.

"Eren!" Naruto heard Mikasa cry while keeping her front toward the soldiers and her swords out.

"Eren, can you stand? Can you understand what I'm saying? Tell them everything you know! I'm sure then they will understand!" Armin said desperately.

Eren just looked around from Naruto's shoulder, "Armin? Naruto? Why are you carrying me? Mikasa? Why do you have your swords out?" the uneasiness in his voice was not lost with Naruto, he clearly had no idea what was going on.

"Did you hear that?!"

"Yeah, he said 'I'll kill them all'. He's going to devour us."

Naruto took his gaze off of Eren to glare at the soldiers muttering nonsense. Eren wouldn't, he never did as a Titan earlier! He only went after Titans! Right?

Naruto saw Captain Verman's face and nearly snarled once more at the relief on the man's face. Eren's outburst distracted everyone from the man's cowardly desertion.

The Captain shouted once more, "Trainee Yaeger, Ackerman, Arlert and _Uzumaki_..." he finished bitterly. "What you are doing is an act of Treason! We may decide to execute you right here!"

"YOU HAVE NO FUCKING RIGHT TO DECIDE THAT COWARD!" Everyone turned to Naruto in shock,not expecting him to get this angry. Once again, no one noticed the red beginning to bleed into his irises turning them slightly violet or the darkening of his whiskers.

"Uzumaki! If you make a single move, or if any of you lie to us, we will fire an HE (High Explosive) round at you. We will not hesitate!"

"You son of a-" Naruto muttered angrily while Eren looked on confused.

"Answer me at once! Eren Yaeger, what are you?! Are you human? Or are you a Titan?!"

"I-I don't understand the question!" Eren replied.

Verman recoiled in shock and said hysterically, "H-He's pretending to not know anything? MONSTER! Try that again and I'll blow you to pieces! It just takes an instant! You won't have time to reveal your true form!"

"T-true form?" Eren questioned.

"Plenty of people saw you!" he screamed incredulously, "As you emerged from the Titan! Humanity has permitted an unknown creature like you to infiltrate Wall Rose! Even if you are trainees given to us by the King, the safest course is to eliminate the threat immediately! My thinking is correct!"

"It is not you deserter!" Naruto yelled back in fury causing Verman to flinch and the soldiers to look on in confusion.

"You left your post at the HQ! I gave you a chance to redeem you cowardliness, but you spit on it by acting like a hysterical toddler who just saw a ghost!" Naruto's features continued to subtly grow more feral as a second well of chakra began to bleed into him with his anger. "I had to defend HQ while you ran to the inner wall! If anyone has to be executed, it's you shithead!"

"ENOUGH! The Armored Titan could appear any minute and destroy the inner wall, humanity is on the brink of annihilation! Do you understand? We can't waste anymore time or troops on you!"

"And you shouldn't be in charge of any of them! You are too stupid and scared to lead them!" Naruto fired back.

"I will fire an HE round without hesitation!"

"Naruto stop! You aren't making things better!" Armin pleaded to the angry blond.

"This fucker doesn't know what he is talking about though! He is a coward who is too scared to think or see what is right!" Naruto shot back turning to Armin.

A silver haired woman name Riko to Verman's right then said, "It is true that they aren't being cooperative. And they aren't being forthcoming with information. You are right sir, you are wasting time and troops."

Naruto heard her though and yelled, "We have no information _TO_ GIVE! We don't even understand what is going on! How can we explain it to you, dumbass!" causing her to gain a tick mark and his angry blunt comment. In his initial jinchuuriki state, Naruto isn't very rational.

"Captain, this is our chance!" a random soldier shouted, "If we dissemble him while it is pretending to be human..."

Mikasa then chose to step forward and said darkly, "My specialty is... tearing through flesh." she raised her swords slightly and continued, "If necessary, I am willing to demonstrate at anytime. If anyone would like to experience it firsthand, I invite them to be the first to approach."

Verman visibly recoiled and a soldier on his left named Ian informed, "Captain, Mikasa Ackerman was in the rearguard with us. She is worth a hundred other soldiers. And Naruto Uzumaki is sponsored by the Scouting Legion so his skill is recognized by them. Corporal Levi was the last to be sponsored by them. Losing them both, would be a critical blow to humanity."

Eren then asked once more, "Guys what is going on here?"

He was ignored as Armin pleaded once more, "Mikasa, Naruto, you can't fight another human! Where would we run within these walls?"

Mikasa answered him, "It doesn't matter who I fight. I won't let anyone kill Eren. I do not need another reason."

"And I won't abandon my comrades!" Naruto answered as well.

"We have to talk this through, just forcing our way through won't work!" Armin shouted, "No one knows what is going on, they are being ruled by fear!"

"I'll ask you once more!" Verman yelled drawing angry glares from Naruto and Mikasa, "Eren Yaeger! What are you?!"

Naruto felt Eren tense on his back and shake slightly before he stopped and raised his head above his shoulder and shouted,

"I'm a human!"

...

Silence was the reply for a few seconds before Verman said gravely, "I see..." he began to raise his arm, "then don't hate me for this." this drew shocked gasps from both the trainees and the two lieutenants beside him.

"There is no avoiding it. No one can prove that they are not monsters." he raised his arm fully upright at that statement.

Naruto snarled, "You can't just decide this on a whim you cowardly shit!" his eyes were now fully red, but it was ignored in favor of the desperate situation.

Mikasa hurried to Eren and said, "Naruto carry Eren, we are going up!"

Eren quickly denied though saying, "Wait- Stop!" Naruto was surprised when Eren flinched violently and fell off his back clenching his head. But he suddenly stood up and grabbed Mikasa and Armin standing in front of Naruto, shocking him. But he noticed in the corner of his eye that Verman brought down his hand signaling the cannon to fire.

A cannon shot drew his attention to his right. Just as Naruto went for a kunai to possibly throw and strike the HE round to detonate it prematurely, a familiar flash of pale yellow-green lightning stopped him. Suddenly he was shadowed by figure, a blend of noises too loud and numerous to decipher occurred, and a great amount of hot air surrounded him.

He felt and heard the shot explode away from them, but what stopped it?

Steam filled his vision, but it wasn't thick enough to block the sight that was above him.

With shock and horror filling his features, Naruto gawked at the rib cage that surrounded Mikasa, Armin and himself.

Above him was a torso more than a couple meters high, a skull with a single eye, and a single arm outstretched toward the recently fired cannon. It was an incomplete Titan with no skin and barely any form. Muscle surrounded the outstretched arm, but even that was beginning to decay.

"Oh my god. You guys are seeing this right? This a part of a Titan..." Naruto said softly to the other two as his features returned to normal in his shock.

"I remember hearing cannon fire... And then there was a horrible sound, a shock wave and heat..." muttered a shocked Armin. "Are we inside a huge skelton-"

"Eren protected us." Mikasa interrupted "That is all we need to know right now."

Armin and Naruto nodded, 'The arm must have blocked the HE round...' Naruto thought absently.

Suddenly Eren appeared running around the rib cage from the back and into it to talk to them, "Hey! You guys!"

"Eren! What is this? What did you do?" questioned Naruto.

"I have no idea, but this will decay like any other Titan corpse." Eren replied and like he said, the construct of Titan flesh was already decaying. This gave them a few more minutes of cover from the steam. "Let's get away from it!"

"And go where Eren? They are still out there waiting for us." Naruto countered. "They are probably getting ready to fire on us again, and after this..." he gestured to their surroundings, "We don't have much hope for negotiations. Not when that coward of a Captain is too scared to even think." Naruto finished with a glare in Verman's direction.

"...That's true..." He conceded, but then he gripped the key on his necklace and said, "But I still have the basement! The basement of my house. My Dad said if I'll go there, I'll learn everything. This happened to me because of him, too." Naruto stiffened here. If he was implying what he thought he was, than him and Eren have something in common, Fathers that gave them unwilling "gifts" to use.

"If I go to the basement, I'll probably learn what the Titans really are." Eren gritted his teeth and punched a decaying bone nearby, "Damn it! If he had that information, why did he hide it?! Isn't that what thousands of soldiers died to find out? Isn't it humanity's last hope?! And he has been keeping it in the basement of our house? What the hell was he thinking?!"

He then narrowed his eyes and said, "Where the hell has he been for five years anyway?"

Naruto was drawing his swords as he went to face the direction of the soldiers, but he then said, "Eren, I don't know your father's reasons for doing this. But he must have a reason. If what you say is true, then he gave you this power to fight and defend what you hold dear. Don't doubt him unless you find out more," he thought of his conversation with his father and said, "Its the parents job to have faith and believe in their kid."

He hardened his eyes glaring past the steam and said, "But, right now we have other priorities."

Eren nodded hesitantly, "... Yeah."

They had to move back however when the Titan began to fall further apart and the skull collapsed lifting dust and steam into the air. Mikasa, Armin and Eren kneeled down into a circle while Naruto kept his swords drawn still standing and facing the direction of the soldiers.

Eren suddenly said seriously, "I'm getting out of here." Much to Mikasa and Armin's shock.

"W-what? Where will you go?" asked Armin.

"Away from here and over the wall. I have to get to the basement." Eren replied. "Once I become a Titan again."

"Can you do that?" Armin asked unsure of his plan.

"I don't know how to do it myself. But I still think I can! It's like you don't know how you move your own arm. Back there, my only thought was stopping that shell. So that body rotted away having no other function and served its purpose."

He started to pant heavily as exhaustion began to show, "This time I'll turn into something stronger! Like a 15 meter class, like the one that tore apart those Titans!"

"Eren! Your nose is bleeding!" Mikasa interrupted him. And true enough blood was flowing out of his nose. His body was too strained.

"Eren you aren't in any condition to do anything, your body-"

Armin was interrupted by Eren, "How I feel doesn't matter! I have come up with two options:..."

Naruto tuned out the conversation at this point. He already decided what he would do a while ago.

He began to walk toward the soldiers in a methodical pace with his hands on his grips, and the swords attached and by his sides.

The soldiers began to gasp in fear as a shadow began to be seen in the smoke. Some aimed their rifles, others backed up a step in fear, others clenched their swords. Their hearts quickened when they saw Naruto step out of the smoke and into view.

His eyes were shadowed by his blond hair and had an emotionless look on his face. With his passive aggressive stance, the drawn swords, the past events, and the smoky background, he made quite the intimidating figure.

"So you finally show yourself, monster!" Captain Verman shouted frightened beyond belief, "I'll do it! I'll give the signal!"

Naruto began to walk slowly toward the soldiers, "My name... is Naruto Uzumaki."

"Don't come any closer!"

"And I am a soldier."

"I'm warning you!"

He released the swords from his grips startling everyone from the sudden clang and the action, "I am a loyal human being with humanity's best interests at heart."

"S-Stop!"

He unlatched his 3DMG from his hips and caused everyone to flinch once more at the loud clang that reverberated once it fell. "I was found and sponsored by the Scouting Legion and given purpose. I will always protect my comrades, never abandoning them."

He finally stopped in the center of the square a few meters from the soldiers and without his 3DMG he pulled out a kunai. "I am a human." He then stabbed his hand unflinchingly, drawing gasps as the blood splattered the floor. "Bleeding the same red as you all."

He glared forward with determined blue eyes causing Verman to flinch in fear, he brought his profusely bleeding hand to his heart into the Military's salute and shouted,

"Almost two years ago, as a soldier I decided I would dedicate my heart to humanity! I would offer it up if it meant others would live and humanity would survive!" His shirt began to stain from the blood flowing from his hand over his heart.

"With his powers Eren can save humanity! I can save humanity! You just have to look past your fear and you will see the truth!" he finished.

"Prove that he isn't a threat or I'll be forced to eliminate you all!" Verman shouted back causing Naruto to grit his teeth while keeping his salute going.

"There is no need for proof!" a shout drew everyone's attention to Armin who had just come out of the smoke. "The question isn't what we think of him!"

"What did you say?!"

"I'm told that many of you saw him, that many of you saw him fighting the Titans! And that the Titans swarmed him! That means the Titans consider him food just like us! That is the TRUTH! No matter what we may think or believe!" he finished.

"Eren is a human that can create and control a Titan's body, imagine what he could do fighting for us! That is better than any cannon, than any sword!" Naruto continued.

"Maybe he is right..."

"A Titan as an ally?"

"That's impossible..."

"But if we could control a Titan..."

The soldiers began to lower their guards and their weapons at that information, trying to wrap their heads around what they had just been told.

However...

"Prepare to attack!"

The call shocked everyone in the square.

If Captain Verman looked frightened and hysterical before, now he was beside himself in fear.

"Don't let them fool you with their clever lies!"

"And don't let him drown you in your fear!" Naruto interrupted. "We have no reason to lie! This captain is a coward who would abandon his fellow soldiers if it meant he would live! He is not fit to lead you! He is consumed by his own fear and is too scared to even think! Do not follow his example! Only look at him and you will see the fear all over him."

Sure enough those that tensed before to attack glanced at their captain and saw what Naruto saw. A frightened man, who didn't know what to do other than destroy what is scaring him.

"We don't understand anything about the Titans! It could be possible for them to sneak in and imitate humans! Don't let your guard down!" Verman shouted once more.

Armin hesitated once more when he saw some of the soldiers but not all lift up their weapons again.

But then he imitated Naruto and saluted with him.

"I am a SOLDIER!" he shouted.

"I swore long ago to dedicate my life to the revival of humanity! If that pursuit were to cost me my life I would be glad! If we use his Titan powers and the forces we still have, we could take back this town!"

"With my final breath, I shall wish for humanity's glory, and try to persuade you of his strategic value!" Armin finally finished out of breath and his eyes closed.

Naruto smiled proudly. He couldn't have said it any better. His hand still bled in the salute over his heart, but he didn't care. A lot more was at stake here.

"Captain Verman, I believe we should consider-" his lieutenant Ian began to advise.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted looking more and more fearful.

As he began to raise his hand up, everyone looked on with wide eyes, he wasn't even considering the options.

As he went to bring it down, he found it stopped by another gripping his hand and a voice saying, "Stop."

The voice behind him continued, "As big as you are, you've always been as delicate as a newborn fawn."

"Commander Pixis!"

The Commander of the Southern Garrison Troops was an old bald man with a gray mustache and hazel eyes. He looked pretty relaxed and casual. Though he wore the normal Military uniform, he had a special sash identifying him as the commander.

He continued ignoring the surprised stares, "Do you not see their splendid salutes? One even stabbed his hand and held it in the salute making it pretty damn poetic and awesome. I can respect that dedication. I've just arrived, but the messengers have kept me abreast of the situation."

"You are dismissed Captain. Go organize the reinforcements. I think we should listen to them..."

"Thank you sir. But please excuse my offence." Naruto stated in relief as Armin collapsed to his knees happily.

"Oh? What offence?" Pixis asked amused.

"This..."

Verman grunted in pain and closed his eyes from the shock. He opened his eyes to see a fist in his gut.

Naruto had angry slitted eyes glaring into his and a fist in his stomach lifting him slightly off his feet.

"Assaulting a cowardly deserting officer whose dumbass shouldn't be in charge!" he finished as Verman collapsed holding his gut wheezing in pain.

"Hmm... Eh, why not? I like guys like you anyway." His reply got sweatdrops from many and a grin from Naruto.

He then motioned to the trainees and said,

"You four, follow me."

**XXX**

The group of Naruto, Eren, Mikasa and Armin watched as High Commander Dot Pixis walked near the edge of the inner wall of Trost. He looked down at the Titans below trying to reach up at him far below and sighed as he took a swig of his drink in the flask he carried in jacket.

"No luck, huh? I wouldn't mind being eaten by a really beautiful Titan woman."

'Reminds me of something Ero-Sennin would say.' Naruto thought with a sweatdrop as he wrapped up his hand from his self-inflicted wound - even if it was for just appearances since it was nearly healed.

After an explanation of all the information they knew, including the basement, Pixis finally said, "I see. And if we reach this basement we'll understand everything?"

Eren still on a knee from exhaustion replied, "Yes... will you believe me?"

Pixis with his back to them overlooking the smoking city of Trost answered, "As long as you, yourself, lack the absolute conviction, I can't promise more than that I'll keep it in mind." He finished turning toward them with a smile.

"But I do take pride in being able to recognize the truth of what I see. I'll guarantee your safety." his words brought sighs of relief.

"What about you Trainee Uzumaki, sponsor of the Scouting Legion? What was your angle?" he questioned with a swig of his flask.

"I don't abandon my comrades. I was told as a kid that those that break the rules are trash, this is true." Everyone looked to him in questioning when he paused and the contradicting statement to his actions, "But those who abandon or betray their comrades are worse than trash. I may be trash to some, but a man like that Captain is worse than trash. I wasn't gonna let my comrades get killed by that coward who abandoned the supply team."

"We need to stand together if we want to beat these Titans. Not run away and stay scared of our own shadows accusing each other of the blame." he finished looking back at Pixis with determination.

"Heh, you keep showing why I like guys like you." he chuckled.

"Trainee Arlert, was it?"

"Yes sir!"

"Back there, you said we could use the Titan's power to reclaim the city. Did you really mean that? Or was it just a plea to save your life?" he asked simply.

"Well..." he thought for a moment before answering, "Both. What I meant was to have Eren become a Titan and move that boulder in the square, and seal the gate." he looked down, "But it was just an idea. I thought I could at least get them to consider using Eren's power to find a way out of our predicament."

When Pixis turned back around with a grunt to face the city, Armin continued to explain himself, "But of course I wanted to survive!"

"You wanted to survive. I can trust those words more than any others." he echoed with cynical amusement.

Pixis then turned to Eren and kneeled down to his eye-level and said, "Trainee Yaeger."

"Yes?" Eren answered hesitantly.

"Can you seal that hole?" he asked ignoring the surprised gasps.

"Well... Well... I don't know." he answered truthfully, "I don't know much more than everyone else here does. So... whether I can do it or not, I can't answer for sure when I don't know."

"That's true." Pixis laughed "I'm sorry. I asked the wrong question." he got serious and asked, "Will you do it? Or won't you?"

At Eren's shocked visage, he looked behind Eren indicating for him to do so as well. Everyone looked and saw the vast countryside of the inside of Wall Rose. Or better yet, what will be lost if they do nothing to take back Trost.

Eren turned back and said, "I-I'll do it." He then steeled himself and said with determination, "I'll do it! I don't know whether I can seal the hole... But I'll do it!"

"Well said!" Pixis complimented as he patted his shoulders and stood up, "You're a real man. I'll call my strategists, we'll develop a plan."

"No way! But it depends on so many assumptions!" cried Armin in disbelief at the spontaneous Commander. "And he is just going to run with it?"

"Have some faith in yourselves guys. That is the only thing holding you all back. Pixis is willing to go all out to save Trost, I can tell. You all have to put forth the same determination. If you do, it will work." Naruto cut in as he looked out onto the ruined city.

"I think there is a bigger issue though before the plan can be executed..." Eren stated, "And the Commander fully recognizes it."

"What do you mean?" asked Armin.

"The Titans aren't our only enemy."

"Ah, you realized it Eren?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, I could see it looking back, but now with it all coming together..."

Suddenly Pixis returned with his second in commands and said interrupting them, "There is no time to waste. I will need your help young soldiers."

**XXX**

A couple of minutes later, Naruto was sitting cross legged on the top of the wall directly above the inner wall's gate. He had his arms folded over his chest and he was staring over at the outer wall of Trost. He could just barely make out the breach.

"Yes Commander?" Naruto acknowledged Pixis who was standing a few feet away from him also looking at the breach.

He then sat next to Naruto and took another swig from his flask. He offered it to Naruto who shrugged and took a sip. It was definitely some strong stuff. Nothing like the toad's sake or Tsunade's, but it was damn close. He handed it back to Pixis who nodded.

Pixis finally asked, "So sponsor of the Scouting Legion. Why did Erwin really take an interest in you. I have read your story, and even though many buy it, I don't. Erwin is known for always having a plan A, B, and C. He has a reason for all of his actions. So why you?"

Naruto kept looking out toward the smoking city before he finally replied, "... I can't answer that here. But, I can show you in the coming fight."

"So you have special abilities like young Eren?"

"Not like his, I can't turn into a Titan. But I do have fighting abilities that Erwin thought was extremely important to humanity."

"What would you do if I gave you free reign to do whatever it takes to take back this city?" Pixis asked seriously never taking his eyes off of the breach.

Naruto asked, "Eren is gonna carry the boulder right? Well he is gonna need some escorts, since he won't be able to fight back. However, I could go directly toward the breach and clear a path for the escorts and hold off the Titans at the breach to prevent anymore from coming in to distract them."

"So you want to go and clear a path to the hole and hold off the Titans from coming in so Eren can plug it? By yourself?" Pixis questioned to make sure he understood.

"Yes sir. The less people that know outside the Scouting Legion the better. People are already gonna be frightened by Eren, if my powers go public things will get worse. Plus, I won't have to hold back." Naruto finished simply.

"Hmm... Very well. Come with me." Pixis stood up and motioned for Naruto to follow him.

They met Eren at the center of the wall overlooking the numerous troops that were left from the invasion. With Eren on his right and Naruto out of view behind him, Pixis stepped forward and coughed into his hand.

With his eyes closed he suddenly bellowed, "ATTENTION!" silencing the anxious and frightened soldiers yelling and talking.

Proudly and loudly, he continued to bellow for all to hear, "I will now explain the plan to retake Trost."

"For this mission, our objective is to seal the hole where the gate was destroyed." He paused to let it sink in and continued gesturing to Eren, "Let me introduce you to the one who will seal the hole for us..." Eren stepped forward and saluted, "From the Trainee Corps, Eren Yaeger."

"He is the result of a top-secret project to turn humans into Titans. He can create and control a Titan's body. He will become a Titan, pick up the giant boulder by the gate, carry it over and seal the hole."

"Your job will be to protect him from Titans while he moves the boulder."

Murmurs broke out at the information given when Pixis paused, it was mostly of disbelief, but then it descended into anger and terror. People began to leave not wanting to die facing the Titans. Some officers threatened to execute the deserters, but then Pixis bellowed once more,

"HERE IS MY DECISION! I shall pardon anyone who deserts now!" much to everyone's surprise.

"Once you succumb to the Titan's fear, you can never fight them again. Those who have learned that fear should leave."

"And anyone wishing their parents, siblings, and loved ones to feel that fear, SHOULD ALSO LEAVE!" Right then those that turned to leave turned back around and into formation and silenced everyone who still wanted to leave.

"Let me tell you what happened four years ago." Naruto perked up at this considering he arrived two years ago.

"About our attempt to retake Wall Maria. As I'm sure you are all aware, that operation was no more than the government's way of dealing with it's inability to feed all of the refugees. It was a culling! The reason no one speaks of it, is because by sending them outside these cramped walls, we were able to survive within them!"

"ALL OF HUMANITY, INCLUDING MYSELF, BEARS THE WEIGHT OF THAT SIN!"

"Because so few escaped Wall Maria, there was never an open rebellion. But what about now? If Wall Rose falls, the sacrifice will be more than just twenty percent. The territory within Wall Sina won't support even half of the current population!"

"If humanity falls, it won't be because we were devoured by Titans, it will be because we killed each other! We must NOT fall even deeper within the walls."

"I BEG OF YOU, TO DIE RIGHT HERE!"

"Since the Titans appeared, humanity has never won against them. Their continuous advance has meant humanity's continuous retreat and loss of territory. But when this mission succeeds, humanity will have retaken its territory from them for the very first time. This will be humanity's first victory against the Titans!"

"Compared to all that humanity has lost, it may seem insignificant. But for humanity, that step will be a great advance in our attack on the Titans!"

Naruto could feel the shock of those below. But he turned around and faced the breach in the distance once more.

'I know what I have to do. Even if Eren can't lift that boulder, I have to give them the chance to make something happen anyway. Pixis wants Eren to be the focus, make him the hope of humanity. To turn him from the supposed bane of existence, into the hero.' he thought to himself.

Naruto hardened his eyes and thought once more, 'But that isn't my job. I am a shinobi. I fight in the shadows to serve the light. So I will fight behind the scenes to make sure Eren succeeds. I can't hold back now. If this wall falls, its the first of many stones to topple humanity permanently like Pixis said. I can't be worried for my well being and whether people will find out my secret when so many lives are on the line.'

He clenched his fists determinedly and muttered, "This fight ends today. No more ground lost."

"No regrets."

**XXX**

"Are you ready?" Pixis asked seriously.

"Yes sir. While everyone is getting ready I will head out now and clear a path for the Elite forces to the breach and hold my ground there." Naruto replied as he checked over his 3DMG and equipment including his hidden shinobi tools.

"Good luck son. We will start the operation in five minutes." Pixis stated as he began to walk away to his strategists.

"Yes sir." Naruto saluted and jumped down into the city.

Creating two clones, the trio scaled a tower and began to meditate. A few seconds later, the tell tale signs of Sage Mode appeared. Orange shading and yellow horizontal pupil toad like eyes and a calm face.

Naruto left his clones and sped forward on his feet with his arms flowing behind him. Little more than a blur, Naruto was at the boulder in less than a minute.

"Alright, time to plow the road..." Naruto muttered. He crossed his fingers into the Shadow Clone handsign and created two more clones who were in Sage mode.

They fanned out and prepared to cut a swath to the breach. Immediately, several Titans came into view and began to stumble toward them.

All three brought out their swords and charged. Too quick for them to follow, they slashed and hacked, spraying steaming Titan blood over the streets. Limbs were slashed and rendered immobile for the time being, tendons were cut collapsing the giants. And necks were cut open, ending their existences. Seven Titans killed in two minutes. Hundreds more to go.

The trio continued to move forward killing Titans as they passed them, doing this drew the attention of nearby Titans as they neared the breached gate. A gate that he stood over just that morning.

Naruto directed his clones to hold off certain areas leading up to the gate once it was in view. He would hold the gate, the first clone would hold the area in between the gate and the boulder, and the last clone would defend the area near the boulder.

As they left he faced the four Titans walking toward him. He hardened his eyes and dashed forward slicing the achilles tendon toppling the first. Using that falling Titan like a step ladder he jumped on its back and jumped once more to the closest Titan that was reaching for him midair. He activated his gas as he began to spin turning him into a human buzzsaw. Continuing the motion, he sliced and spun his way up the arm to the neck, cutting half of the neck open.

Still midair but slowed down, he whipped his hands around and detached his swords causing them to be thrown at another Titan. With it distracted and moaning in pain from the swords embedded in its eye and chest, Naruto launched his cables toward its torso and latched on. He swung around to its back and hauled himself in to the neck ending that Titan as well.

With one still struggling to stand and crawling toward him and another attempting to grab him, Naruto sheathed his swords and dashed to the standing Titan. He punched the outstretched hand causing it to stumble back from the unexpected blow. While it was still reeling, he jumped and gave another Sage mode punch dropping it to the ground. On the ground Naruto quickly drew and slashed the neck open with his sword before sheathing it again as he dashed to the crawling Titan. With both hands, he formed a Rasengan of basketball sized that only grew larger as he neared the 10 meter Titan with slashed tendons. With a leap and a yell Naruto descended onto its vital point.

"OODAMA RASENGAN!"

Naruto finally paused for a moment to look around and confirm the four steaming corpses.

"Alright Time to hold the gate." he muttered to himself as he dashed to the breached gate in sight.

Finally on top of the rubble at the hole, Naruto gaped at the sheer size of it. The boulder was big enough, but it was still a damn big hole.

The flash of lightning Naruto was beginning to associate with the transformation of Eren into a Titan drew his attention to the direction of the boulder. Followed by a large crash.

"Good. They are getting started."

Looking out into the area beyond Trost through the breach, Naruto admired the fact that no Titans were in sight or coming. It was strange, but not unwelcome. Suddenly a clones memories, plus some new natural energy flowed into him. Eren went berserk and nearly killed Mikasa. He knocked himself out of commission in the process, but the elite forces are defending him until they can extract him anyway. Or until he gets a hold of himself. Which ever comes first.

A low growl caught his attention however. Standing out in the plain before the breached gate was a small figure compared to the taller Titans, but still tall compared to Naruto. It was about 3 meters tall, but hunched over. Its shaggy blond hair covered its facial expressions on its proportional head, which was strange considering most Titan heads are a lot bigger than their bodies proportionally. But it did not hide its menacing growling. It was also bulky and muscular around the torso and arms, but very lean in the leg area.

The most intimidating thing about this Titan was the fact that at the end of its longer than normal arms that hung to its shins, was that instead of the normal human like fingers, there were sharp looking claw appendages. Almost like talons. On top of that, Naruto noted that there were similar appendages on its feet, but shorter. On the elbow, the bone protruded from there as well, but it was sharpened like the talon-like appendages.

Wearily Naruto took in this new foe. He has never seen nor heard of a Titan like this. It must be another special type of Titan like the Colossal and the Armored. Question was, what could this one do? It looked like it had blades on its fingers, toes and daggers coming from its elbow.

He got his answer as it suddenly roared rearing its head back revealing a face with a murderous expression. It suddenly broke into a run straight at Naruto.

Naruto got into a stance waiting to see what it will do. Suddenly in a burst of speed, the Titan dashed forward. It ran up to the breach and into the hole, but not directly at Naruto. It suddenly shifted at surprising speed to the wall near Naruto and jumped. It planted its feet into the wall to brace itself and sprung.

The boost of speed from its powerful legs and sudden changes in direction caught Naruto off guard. Suddenly on the defensive he barely dodged a slash from the talon like hands by falling flat to the ground. Naruto watched with wide eyes as he felt the air get sliced by the speed of the strike as the Agile Titan zoomed over him.

Quickly getting to his feet after it went by, Naruto drew his swords in time to block another slash after the Agile bounced again off a wall to launch itself at him. Even with chakra sent to his feet to hold his ground and the extra strength from Sage mode, Naruto was still pushed back slightly from the force of the blow and his blades were ruined.

"G-Geh! Y-you!" Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to hold off the Titan. His eyes widened when he saw the other hand rear back for a slash. Naruto then pushed forward and then stopped pulling his swords back causing the Titan to stumble forward due to it still pushing down leaving it open. Naruto took advantage and gave a hard kick to the midsection.

"Take that!" he yelled out as the Agile was sent flying into a building away from the breach.

As Naruto replaced his swords and sheathed one to keep one hand open for other attacks, he felt the rush of memories and more natural energy. His last clone defending the middle area between the breach and the boulder was just dispelled. It had defended the elite squad from advancing Titans and taken down six Titans before being struck out of the air by a seventh and dispelled.

The only good news, is that this strange Agile Titan scared off other Titans from entering the breach so no more are entering. The aura of the thing is pretty intense. It gives off the vibe of a predator, the top of the food chain. Like a jungle cat over snakes and other predators.

A shift in the rubble from where it was sent drew Naruto's attention. He waited for it to move when suddenly a large part of the rubble was thrown at him. Naruto dashed out of the way, but was forced to block another slash from the Agile's talons as it got in his face once more. A fierce flurry of strikes from both sides occurred slashes and parries, punches and kicks, The hunched 3 meter Agile versus the shinobi Sage lasting over a minute.

Naruto parried an overhead slash and formed a hasty rasengan and shoved it into the chest of the Agile Titan, sending it into another building.

Naruto huffed a bit as he felt his Natural energy dip. He already used one of the meditating clones during that exchange, leaving him with one left. His clothes were ripped and slashed and he has several cuts on his body. He groaned when he saw his adversary shift and stand once more. It wasn't in any better shape than him though. Along with the new spiral shaped scar on its chest, it has several bruises and slashes on it's muscular body - one across the face - but it still moved like nothing was wrong. There wasn't going to be though if he kept healing if the steaming wounds were any indication.

Suddenly he felt the ground shake as if a thundering step was just taken. He jumped to the roof of a nearby building and noted that the Agile jumped to the one across from him. He saw in the distance the top of the large boulder beginning to move. Meaning Eren finally picked up the damn thing. Which also means he has to finish up.

It was uncanny how the two figures stared at each other across the streets and at each others eyes. Like they knew this was the final blow. Mentally dispelling the last clone, Naruto breathed in as the energy flowed through. He sheathed his sword and held out his right hand. A clone appeared next to him and began to wave his hands around his own as a ball of swirling chakra appeared.

The agile Titan hunched forward even more tensing its legs and flexed its talon like fingers, it could feel the danger of the blue ball of energy. It was almost instinctual.

A piece of rubble crumbled of a building and fell into the street creating a loud crack in the street.

It was their signal as both figures dashed forward to meet in the middle of the street.

Time seemed to slow for Naruto as he saw the murderous looking Agile Titan's face. He watched as it brought its left hand toward him in a piercing position that reminded him of the Chidori.

Even as he was dashing, he he began to lean back with his left shoulder while thrusting with his right hand and Rasengan. He watched as the gleaming talons brushed past his face barely leaving the thinnest of cuts diagonally from his forehead between his eyes to his cheek.

The Rasengan collided with the forearm thrusting it toward its owner and the talons with it. The Agile Titan's own talons pierced it's chest, collar bone, and throat.

They both fell to the ground, though Naruto rolled into his fall and into a crouch. The Agile was heaving and twitching on the floor from being stabbed. Steam was billowing from its wounds as they attempted to heal despite the talons blocking the way.

Naruto stood up once more and walked over to the tough opponent. He held out his hand once more as another clone appeared to create another Rasengan. This time with wind.

Around the grapefruit sized swirling white ball were four small shuriken like blades of wind. With the three meter Titan now at his feet, Naruto stared for a moment, but then thrusted the deadly technique into the nape of the neck. Slicing and grinding away, the Wind Style: Rasengan did its job ending the abnormal Titan.

Naruto stood up straight over his now decaying opponent as the blood that splattered from the finisher began to steam and evaporate away, but the thin cut across his face began to bleed slightly and of course not evaporating.

Eren's towering Titan figure with numerous soldiers escorting him came into view as he finally stepped into the street to the breach.

Naruto launched a cable and pulled himself up to the roof from the bloody street to watch the show and let Sage mode disperse. He plopped down and sat with his knees up and his arms loosely wrapped around them.

Despite the exhaustion, he felt immediately, the feeling of relief was much more potent. He starred as Titan Eren slammed the boulder into the breach, sealing it and preventing from anymore Titans from entering Trost.

Humanity won.

They stopped the invasion.

All that was left was to get rid of the stragglers within the city.

But why did he feel uneasy?

Was it because of the strange Titan no one has ever seen randomly appearing?

Was it because of its strength and ability?

Or was it the fact that the Armored Titan never showed up?

Or maybe it was the fact that there was a headless soldier on the roof next to him.

Maybe it was the fact that he couldn't save everyone.

That even with his clones many of the Elite soldiers died.

They may have won the fight, but to Naruto it felt hollow.

How many families will never see a loved one today after this battle?

How many will simply be forgotten?

With blood dripping down his face, Naruto stared mournfully at the boulder that plugged the hole.

Tears began to mix with the blood as they flowed down his face amongst the choked sobs.

Even when he saw Levi arrive as the first of the Scouting Legion to come back he didn't stop.

"D-Damn it!" Naruto choked out the curse as he grit his teeth in frustration, slamming his hands to his head and gripping his hair.

After a few more seconds he stood up woodenly and wiped his face with what was left of his sleeve. Blood and tears stained it, but his face was now determined.

There were still Titans left to kill and lives to be saved.

Crying won't bring the lives of those he failed to save back, all he can do, is prevent more from dying.

Because when he first came here that is what he promised to do.

And he always keeps his promises.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**No omake this time either, I felt like if I would have put one it would have killed the mood I tried to set. So yeah, next time I'm putting one in, it is also gonna be a series instead of just randomness. Like a behind the scenes type of deal, but slightly funny.**

**Anyway I hope you liked it, there were a couple canonish parts for that I apologize, but I threw in some originality! Who else did that Agile Titan? Nobody I know! I lay claim! Let me trademark it or copyright that sucker.**

**I actually found something that resembles what I had in mind for the Agile Titan. Surprisingly, it's close to how Joker looked after he took the Titan serum (LOL) in Arkham Asylum total coincidence I swear. Even the Titan serum lol I couldn't stop laughing when I remembered that from playing the game. I'm gonna post the picture on my profile if you want to see.**

**It's not Ymir by the way, Ymir's form looks different and doesn't have those appendages, she has claw-like fingernails. I honestly wasn't even thinking about Ymir writing this.**

**Anyway review, follow, and favorite please! **

**Peace!**

**Markus-Antonius**


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